KINGSTON, R.I. – Senior captain Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) won her second individual New England championship of the weekend, leading the Regis College women's swimming and diving team to its best-ever finish at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships as the meet concluded Sunday at the Tootell Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Rhode Island.
In the 50 backstroke, Leonard posted the top preliminary time at 27.50 seconds, and then she lowered her own school record in winning the evening final in 27.04 seconds, over 8/10ths of a second ahead of her nearest competitor. She is the first female in James Sweeney's tenure as Pride head coach to win a New England title and the first Regis woman to accomplish the feat since Kriste Kleiner in the mid-1990s.
Leonard nearly added a third title to her resume, finishing second in the 100 individual medley by just 7/100ths of a second with a time of 1:02.24. She capped the meet by anchoring the 400 freestyle relay, teaming with Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.), Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.), and Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) to post an overall time of 3:49.06, finishing fifth in the event.
Boatwright also qualified for the championship final in the 100 individual medley, finishing seventh with a time of 1:03.88 after posting a preliminary mark of 1:03.38. Alexa Lancisi (Milford, Mass.) placed fifth in the consolation final for a 13th place finish overall with an evening time of 1:07.27, slightly slower than her preliminary mark of 1:06.93. Gloria Sutton (Suffield, Conn.) also scored for the Pride with a 19th place finish in the preliminaries in 1:10.48.
Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) finished 12th in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 19:49.55, while Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.) qualified for the consolation final in the 200 breaststroke, finishing seventh in that race to end up 15th overall with an evening time of 2:43.08. Mallytza Ibarra Davila (Yuma, Ariz.) picked up five points for the Pride by finishing 20th in the 100 freestyle preliminaries in 1:00.49, and Caoilinn Bassignani (Franklin, Mass.) collected another point with a 24th place finish in the 50 backstroke in 31.98 seconds.
As a team, the Pride women finished in fifth place with 675.5 points, the best finish in program history. Roger Williams University took the team title with 1,519 points, followed by Simmons University with 1,426 points and Keene State College with 1,094 points.
The Regis College men's swim team maintained its position in the final standings thanks to a strong performance in the 1650 freestyle, as Brendan Pike (Weymouth, Mass.) finished in third place with a time of 16:59.54 and Grant Kollien (Acton, Mass.) ended up in 11th place in 17:42.65. The Pride stayed in eighth place with 170 points, with Roger Williams cruising to the team title by collecting 1,041 points.