Bentley Swimmers & Divers Set for Northeast-10 Championships; Falcon Men Projected for 1st

Bentley Swimmers & Divers Set for Northeast-10 Championships; Falcon Men Projected for 1st

CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | LIVE STREAM

WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be in Worcester at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Thursday through Sunday for the 2019 Northeast-10 Conference Championships with both teams expected to turn in strong performances.

A pre-championship poll of conference coaches forecast the Bentley men's team to capture its second NE10 title in the last three years and the women's team to place third in a tight battle with Assumption and two-time defending champion Southern Connecticut State.

The Falcon men, who were second a year ago, received five first place votes and a total of 41 points with Southern Connecticut second with two and 38. In the women's voting, Assumption tallied four firsts and 68 points, Southern three and 65 and the Falcons two and 62.

Current members of the team have previously earned 33 individual and 31 relay medals with seniors Kate Kaduboski (Dedham/Dedham HS) and Ryan McGeary (Paramus, N.J./Bergen Catholic HS) leading the way.

Kaduboski has made 17 trips to the awards podium over the last three years to collect four gold, ten silver and three bronze medals. She's helped Bentley win the 800 yard free relay title three straight times and swam to victory in the 400 individual medley last February. She medaled in six of seven events last year, seven of seven in 2017 and eight of nine individual events in her career. On the psych sheet for this weekend's championships, the 2018 NCAA qualifier is listed second in the 200 IM, the 400 IM and the 200 backstroke

Seven of McGeary's eight previous medals were silvers, including the 200 freestyle twice and both the 100 free and 500 free once each. He tops this year's list in the 500 free and is second to freshman teammate Mark Zoda (Nashua, N.H./Bishop Guertin HS) in the 200 free.

Frank Elenio (Ridgefield, N.J./Bergen County Academies) and Brooke Jameson (Bedford/Bedford HS) both have made seven trips to the podium previously. He was the runner-up in the 200 IM, the 400 IM and the 200 butterfly last year after earning the bronze in all three last year. Jameson, a teammate of Kaduboski's on the Falcons' 800 gold relay championship teams the last three years, was third in the 500 free last February.

Other than Kaduboski, the only member of this year's Bentley swimming teams who has previously won an individual event at the NE10's is junior Daniel Sausto (Slingerlands, N.Y./ The Doane Stuart School). As a freshman in 2017, he swam to victory in the 1650 free.

In addition to McGeary and Zoda, Bentley student-athletes who are listed first on the psych sheet are Elenio in the 400 IM and freshman Zac Papsco (Northport, N.Y./Northport HS) in the 200 IM.

Last year, the Bentley men finished in the top two for the seventh straight year and the women's team was third, the eighth straight time they've placed in the top three. Sixteen school records were broken in 15 events.

Action at WPI's Sports and Recreation Center gets underway with the 1000 free, the 800 free relay and the three-meter men's diving prelims Thursday at 6 pm. Prelims the rest of the weekend are scheduled for 10:15 am with the evening session following at 6 pm (Friday, Saturday) or 5:30 pm (Sunday).

A live stream of the night sessions will be available through the NE10 NOW Digital Network and on NE10NOW.tv.

NORTHEAST-10 PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP POLL – MEN'S SWIMMING
1. Bentley – 41 (5)
2. Southern Connecticut – 38 (2)
3. Le Moyne – 28
4. Pace – 26
5. Saint Rose – 25
6. Saint Michael's – 16
7. Adelphi – 15

NORTHEAST-10 PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP POLL – WOMEN'S SWIMMING
1. Assumption – 68 (4)
2. Southern Connecticut – 65 (3)
3. Bentley – 62 (2)
4. Le Moyne - 47
5. Pace - 39
6. Saint Rose – 38
7. Merrimack – 34
8. Saint Michael's – 23
9. Adelphi – 20