CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Thanks to three top-eight finishes, including both relays in the evening session, the Regis College women's swimming and diving team moved up to eighth place after the second day of the 2019 New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championships, held at MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center.
Freshman Alexa Lancisi (Milford, Mass.) was the only Pride swimmer to qualify for an A-final in an individual event, finishing eighth in both the morning preliminaries (1:02.29) and the evening finals (1:02.33) of the 100 butterfly.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the quartet of Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.), Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.), Lancisi, and Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) finished sixth with a time of 1:42.94, 0.79 seconds quicker than their preliminary time. Leonard, Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.), Lancisi, and Zernitsky combined to finish seventh in the 400 medley relay in 4:16.25, over a second faster than their morning time.
Elisabeth McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.) qualified for Saturday's final of the one-meter diving event after finishing second in the 11-dive preliminary Friday afternoon with a total score of 347.65.
In the 500 freestyle, Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) cut almost three seconds off her preliminary time, finishing fourth in the B-final and 12th overall with an evening time of 5:34.34. Burke touched the wall fifth in the B-final of the 50 breaststroke for a 13th-place finish overall in 33.54 seconds after a preliminary time of 33.20 seconds.
After qualifying for the B-final in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.69 seconds, Leonard finished third in the evening and 11th overall in a personal-best time of 25.40 seconds.
As a team, Regis moved up from ninth to eighth with a total of 219 points, just 3.5 points ahead of UMass Dartmouth. Roger Williams leads the team competition with 507 points, followed closely by GNAC champion Simmons with 474.5 points.
The third day of the 2019 NEISDA Championships begins Saturday morning, Feb. 23, at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 50 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 100 breaststroke, followed by the finals of the 1000 freestyle. The one-meter diving final takes place at 3:30 p.m., and then the six swimming finals commence at 6 p.m.