Werner Wins GNAC Individual Title on Night One of Championships
WORCESTER, Mass. - Cody Werner (Bettendorf, Iowa) won the individual title in the 50 butterfly, highlighting Regis College's participation in the first day of the 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming and Diving Championships held at the WPI Sports and Recreation Center.
After finishing as the top seed with a preliminary time of 24.52 seconds, Werner won the 50 butterfly final with a personal-best time of 24.15 seconds, 0.38 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Werner is the first Regis male swimmer to win a GNAC individual title since the 2020 GNAC Championships.
Earlier in the evening, Werner finished second in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:26.26, third-fastest in program history, in the final after posting a preliminary time of 4:29.53. Werner also anchored the 400 freestyle relay, teaming with Michael Zammuto (Burlington, Mass.), Samuel Madriz (Union, N.J.), and Aryaman Nagaraj (Watertown, Mass.) to finish in second place with an overall time of 3:45.76.
The Pride men also finished second in the 200 medley relay as Zammuto, Ryan Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.), Madriz, and Nagaraj combined to post a time of 1:56.52. Nagaraj earned All-GNAC honors with a second place finish in the 200 backstroke in 2:12.58, fifth-fastest in program history, and Zammuto finished second in three-meter diving with an 11-dive score of 253.55 to receive All-GNAC recognition.
Also in the 50 butterfly, Madriz finished in sixth place in the evening final with a time of 26.54 seconds after swimming 26.21 seconds in the morning preliminaries. Kim finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.23 as the Regis men ended the night in second place with 66 points.
On the women's side, Megan Miller (Quincy, Mass.) picked up her first career All-GNAC honor by finishing third in the 200 backstroke with a personal-best time of 2:23.02. Olivia Luhnau (Castle Rock, Colo.) ended up right behind Miller in fourth place with a time of 2:23.79, also a personal-best mark.
In the 1000 freestyle, Ava Hubster (Crown Point, Ind.) finished in fourth place with a personal-best time of 11:56.25, with Davinity Smallwood (Naugatuck, Conn.) finishing in eighth place with a time of 12:53.96 and Vera Rivard (Springfield, N.H.) ending up in 11th place in 13:18.88. Riley Aptt (Woburn, Mass.) finished fifth in the 400 individual medley with a time of 5:12.93, and Abby Parker (Peru, Mass.) placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke in 1:20.85 after qualifying for the final with a time of 1:20.44.
Miller, Parker, Aptt, and Luhnau led off the meet with a fourth place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:59.05. Smallwood, Jenna Silva (New Bedford, Mass.), Aptt, and Luhnau placed sixth in the 400 freestyle relay with an overall time of 4:04.40 to put the Regis women in fourth place after the first day with 165 points.
The 2024 GNAC Swimming and Diving Championships will continue Saturday, Feb. 3, starting with preliminaries at 10 a.m.