KINGSTON, R.I. – The 2022 New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships kicked into full gear Friday afternoon with several top-10 performances by the Regis College women's swimming and diving team.
Senior Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.) led the Pride with a second place finish in the 200 backstroke with a season-best time of 2:13.75. She also helped Regis reach the podium with a third place finish in the 400 medley relay, teaming with Julia Burke (Barrington, N.H.), Riley Aptt (Woburn, Mass.), and Olivia Luhnau (Denver, Colo.) for a total time of 4:15.30.
Burke nearly made the podium in the 50 breaststroke, ending up in fourth place with a time of 32.14 seconds, 1/100th of a second off her collegiate best mark. In total, three Pride swimmers placed within the top eight in the event, as Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) finished sixth in 33.01 seconds and Luhnau finished eighth in 33.12 seconds.
Aptt also enjoyed a solid day individually, placing sixth in both the 100 butterfly in 1:02.55 and the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:18.91, close to five seconds faster than her seed time. Megan Miller (Quincy, Mass.) picked up additional points for the Pride in the 200 backstroke by placing 15th with a time of 2:28.12.
Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) cut over four seconds off her previous season-best time in the 500 freestyle, finishing 10th in 5:43.12. In the 50 freestyle, Laylan Harris (McKinney, Texas) finished in 13th place with a time of 26.40 seconds, followed by Luhnau in 15th place in 26.66 seconds and Mallytza Ibarra Davila (Yuma, Ariz.) in 26th place in 27.71 seconds. Harris also placed 15th in the 100 butterfly in 1:04.79, with Ibarra Davila finishing 21st in 1:11.16.
In the 11-dive preliminaries for one meter diving, Cashman Murphy (Westwood, Mass.) posted a score of 357.60 to finish in third place and advance to the Saturday finals.
As a team, the Pride totaled 273 points, moving into fourth place in the standings, just two points behind third place University of New England.
The 2022 NEISDA Championships will continue Saturday, Feb. 26, with swimming preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m., the finals of the 1000 freestyle around 12 noon, one meter diving finals at approximately 1 p.m., and swimming finals starting at 6 p.m.