WELLESLEY, Mass. – Thanks to two more league titles and several other top performances, the Regis College women's swimming and diving team moved up to finish in second place as the 2020 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up Sunday at the Boston Sports Institute Natatorium.
Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) earned her fifth individual conference championship and ninth GNAC title overall by winning the 100 individual medley with a time of 1:03.60, finishing ahead of the second place competitor by just 6/100ths of a second. She was part of a Pride trifecta within the top five in the event, as Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.) finished fourth in 1:04.43 and Alexa Lancisi (Milford, Mass.) placed fifth with a time of 1:06.08.
Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.) received the first individual league title of her career, winning the 50 breaststroke with a time of 32.13 seconds, 1.42 seconds clear of her nearest competition. Lindsey Bone (Rosenberg, Texas) finished in sixth place in the event with a time of 35.20 seconds.
Three Regis swimmers qualified for the championship final in the 100 backstroke, with Leonard finishing fourth with a time of 1:01.20, followed by Boatwright in sixth place in 1:02.95 and Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) in ninth place in 1:05.93. Senior Caoilinn Bassignani (Franklin, Mass.) competed in the consolation final, posting a morning qualifying time of 1:11.50 before finishing 18th overall in the evening session in 1:11.95.
In the 200 breaststroke, Burke finished fourth with a time of 2:38.19, followed by Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) in sixth place with a finals time of 2:43.39 after qualifying with a preliminary mark of 2:42.75. Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.) finished fifth in both the 50 freestyle in 26.17 seconds and the 50 butterfly in 28.50 seconds, with Lancisi ending up eighth in the 50 butterfly in 28.75 seconds.
Gloria Sutton (Suffield, Conn.) finished first in the consolation final twice, starting with the 200 freestyle in 2:11.01 and then performing the same feat in the 100 individual medley in 1:11.29 to post 11th place overall finishes in both instances. Ryan Moran (Arlington, Mass.) finished fifth in the 200 freestyle consolation final in 2:19.66, while Mallytza Ibarra Davila (Yuma, Ariz.) won the B-final in the 50 butterfly in 29.64 seconds to place 11th overall in that event.
To conclude the meet, the quartet of Leonard, Zernitsky, Bowie, and Boatwright finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:52.24.
Sitting in fifth place after the first day Friday and fourth after the second night Saturday, the Pride scored 319 points Sunday, second-most for the session and over 40 points more than any team other than Simmons, to move into second place in the final standings with 692 total points. Simmons University cruised to another GNAC championship, finishing with 1181.5 points.
Several members of the Regis College swimming and diving team will now prepare for the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Championships, to be held Feb. 13-16 at the Tootell Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.