Czaplicki Leads Central on Senior Day

On the final home meet for the 2011-12 seniors Alex Czaplicki, Madison Vestergaard, Kristen Malski, Shauna Lynch, and Kelly Kreho, the Central Connecticut swimming & diving team defeated Vermont in a 168.5 to 131.5 decision.  The home dual-meet was held at Jack Suydam Natatorium in New Britain, CT.

Czaplicki led the Blue Devils with a record setting meet.  Her 4:33.37 time in the 400 yard IM surpassed the previous mark of 4:35.05 held by Kristen Jurzynski six years prior.  Along with the 400 yard IM, Czaplicki gathered a first-place seat in the 200 yard freestyle (1:53.59).

In the 200 yard medley relay, the first event of the day, Central came away with a first place finish touching the wall at 1:49.58.  The team included Czaplicki, Malski, junior Katie Lang, and sophomore Helene Neuhaus.  Central's 'B' squad in the event, junior Allison Rasile, sophomore Kristina Gulia, junior Hannah Packer, and sophomore Erin Massey placed third (1:52.28).

A trio of Blue Devils, junior Taylor Friedmann (10:27.44), sophomore Kasey Chilton (10:38.13), and junior Lauren Shortell (10:45.89) all finished second, third, and fourth respectively in the 1000 yard freestyle.

Behind first place seated Czaplicki in the 200 yard freestyle was Rasile who took the second place spot touching the wall at 1:57.21.  Freshman Karen Novak finished fifth (1:59.77)

Neuhaus claimed the 100 yard backstroke, winning the event with a time of 58.89.  Packer tied for third (1:01.57) and freshman Kaylin Sylvester placed sixth (1:06.61).

Another Blue Devil victory was captured by Gulia (1:07.00) in the 100 yard breaststroke followed by a third place finish from Malski (10:80.2).

Lang won the 200 yard butterfly finding the wall at 2:08.99, her first victory of the night.  Her second win came in the 100 yard butterfly which she completed in 59.56.

Another first place finish for Neuhaus came in the 50 yard freestyle, she clocked in at 25.06.  Massey came in fourth place (25.70) and Novak sixth (26.71).

Vestergaard started an impressive day of diving by scoring a 218.95 in the 1m event, good for second place.  The senior then captured the first place seat in 3m diving winning the event with a 216.70 mark.  Freshman Kaitlyn Dwyer placed fifth (156.30) in the 1m and seventh (134.50) in the 3m.

On a day where 12 of the 16 events were won by the Blue Devils, Neuhaus tallied the most individual first place finishes.  Her third and final victory came in the 100 yard freestyle, clocking in at 53.41.

Rasile led Central in the 200 yard backstroke winning the event in 2:08.28 followed by Packer who finished fourth (2:12.45) and Kreho sixth (2:22.99).

A pair of Blue Devils paced the 200 yard breaststroke, Gulia finished first (2:26.12) and the senior Malski finished second (2:27.99).

In what was arguably the most thrilling event of the day Friedmann finished a close second in the 500 yard freestyle touching the wall at 5:06.63, just a fraction behind the leader Kailey Gardner of Vermont (5:06.61).

Wrapping up what was an exciting senior day at Jack Suydam Natatorium was the 400 yard freestyle.  Central's 'A' team (Friedmann, Lang, Czaplicki, and Massey) finished second in 3:42.81 and the 'B' team (junior Lauren Shortell, Chilton, Rasile, and Novak) finished right behind in third place (3:45.70).

Central Connecticut will be back in action on January 14th as they travel to Florida and face FIU in a dual-meet competition.