Bridge Becomes NE-10 Champion in 1-Meter Diving; Bentley Stands in 2nd as a Team
WORCESTER, Mass. – Bentley University senior Colton Bridge (Tolland, Conn./Tolland HS) dethroned three-time defending champion Josh Byrne of Le Moyne College to capture the gold medal in the one-meter diving during day two of the Northeast-10 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night at WPI's Sports and Recreation Center.
Bridge, who was also first during the prelims, finished strong for a winning score of 427.80 points and a margin of 20.25 over Byrne.
The Falcons had two others crack the top five with junior Gregory Coleman (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North HS) fourth (325.50) and classmate Nick Cilia (Brentwood, N.H./Exeter HS) right behind him in fifth (275.80).
Junior Davis Wilson (Ransom Canyon, Texas/Lubbock HS) broke the school record in the 200 yard individual medley twice during the day while finishing overall. His 1:56.39 in the prelims was more than a second faster than the standard Bryan Stinchfield held since 2008, and he improved on that by about a quarter-of-a-second in the finals (1:56.13).
In the 500 free, senior Owen Karl (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton HS) was fifth (4:39.63) and sophomore Aidan Karam (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) followed in sixth (4:41.43). The 50 free saw senior Timothy Connolly (Dorchester/Boston Latin Academy) place sixth (21.25 seconds) and senior Sebastian Bury (Bellevue, Wash./Newport Senior HS) finish ninth (21.37) after winning the consolation final.
Bentley was fifth in the 400 medley relay with Connolly and Wilson combining with freshmen Ryan McGeary (Paramus, N.J./Paramus HS) and Matt Gwozdecke (Bristol, Conn./St. Paul Catholic HS) for a 3:30.83. During the course of the relay, Connolly broke his own school record in the 100 back with an opening leg of 52.53 seconds. That was 0.23 seconds better than the mark he achieved at the 2014 NE-10 Championships.
In the team standings, Bentley will begin Saturday's action second among seven teams with a score of 275 points. The Falcons trail first-place Southern Connecticut by 72 and are ahead of third-place Le Moyne College by 49.
Saturday's prelims will get underway at 10:15 am