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Sebastian Bury & Kaitlin McGahie
Sebastian Bury & Kaitlin McGahie

Bentley Swimming Opens Dual Schedule Wednesday at WPI; 10 School Record Holders Return

                WALTHAM, Mass. – Ten school record holders, including three-time All-America diver Nicola Mancini (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth HS), are expected to be in action when the Bentley University men's and women's swimming and diving teams open their dual schedule Wednesday night at WPI. Live video is expected to be available for the 7 pm meet with links at www.bentleyfalcons.com.

Mancini, a senior, is back after injuries kept her on the sidelines last winter. The four-time Northeast-10 Conference champion and two-time NE-10 Women's Diver of the Year placed fifth in the one meter and seventh in the three-meter at the 2014 NCAA Division II Championships, as well as eighth in the one meter a year earlier.

Other individual school record holders back for the women's team are junior Kaitlin McGahie (Boylston/ Tahanto Reg. HS) and sophomore Emily Niemiec (Meriden, Conn./Francis T. Mahoney HS). McGahie is the standard bearer in both the 50 yard freestyle (24.48) and 100 individual medley (1:01.15) while Niemiec's rookie season included a school record in the 200 IM (2:08.56).

Niemiec and classmate Anne Warren (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron HS) both earned Northeast-10 championships last February. Niemiec's gold came in the 200 breaststroke and Warren was victorious in the 200 butterfly.

Seven members of the men's team own school records, including five with two. Included are all six freestyle marks with senior Sebastian Bury (Bellevue, Wash./Newport Senior HS) the record holder in the 50 (21.06) and 100 (46.52), and classmate Owen Karl (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton HS) in the 200 (1:42.09) and the 500 (4:36.72). The two longest race records, the 1000 and 1650, belong to sophomore Aidan Karem (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) with times of 9:57.35 and 16:35.11, respectively.

Senior Tim Connolly (Dorchester/Boston Latin Academy) is at the top of the Bentley performance list in both the 100 backstroke (52.76) and the 200 back (1:54.42), and senior Colton Bridge (Tolland, Conn./Tolland HS) owns both one-meter diving records.

Other record holders are senior Alex Liulakis (Tenafly, N.J./Tenafly HS) (200 butterfly, 1:55.84) and junior Dennis Witol (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) (400 IM, 4:09.32).

Bentley, which tuned up for the season by swimming against MIT in the Batterman Relays on Saturday, will also be on the road Saturday at Le Moyne College. The first home meet of the new campaign is Nov. 6 against Roger Williams.