Central Just Short at NEC's

The Central Connecticut swimming & diving team fell to St. Francis (P.A.) (748) by one point at the 2012 Northeast Conference Championship.  The Blue Devils, who topped the rankings on days one and two, posted a score of 747.  Wagner placed third with 552, Bryant fourth with 547, and Mount St. Mary's rounded out the top five scoring 348 points.

Senior Madison Vesteraard defended her 3m diving title winning the event with a score of 234.90.  Vestergaard took home the NEC Diver of the Meet award for the second consecutive year.

Three Blue Devils collected silver medals for Central on the third and final day.  Junior Taylor Friedmann in the 1650 yard freestyle (17:10.66), senior Alex Czaplicki in the 200 yard backstroke (2:01.95), and sophomore Helene Neuhaus in the 100 yard freestyle.

The Blue Devil pair of sophomore Kristina Gulia and senior Kristen Malski claimed the third and fourth spots in the 200 yard breaststroke, respectively.  Gulia touched the wall at 2:21.96 followed by Malski at 2:23.60.  Junior Katie Lang finished fourth in the 200 yard butterfly turning in a 2:07.17 mark.

Central will be back in the pool on February 26th at the Harvard Last Chance Qualifier.

DAY THREE

Both senior Alex Czaplicki and junior Taylor Friedmann earned gold medals for the Blue Devils.  Czaplicki swam to victory in the 400 IM with a time of 4:24.70.  Friedmann captured the 200 yard freestyle with her 1:50.20 mark.

A pair of Blue Devils secured the second and third place spots in the 100 yard breaststroke.  Sophomore Kristina Gulia turned in a time of 1:04.83 claiming the runner up position in the event.  Seconds behind Gulia was senior Kristen Malski who touched the wall at 1:06.07, good for third place.

Sophomore Helene Neuhaus registered a third place finish in the 100 yard backstroke at 56.83.  Neuhaus along with Gulia, Friedmann, and junior Katie Lang highlighted the 400 yard medley relay event.  The team finished second with a time of 3:52.19.

DAY TWO

Junior Taylor Friedmann claimed the 500 yard freestyle event with a time of 4:53.71, 3.58 seconds ahead of second place teammate junior Allison Rasile (4:57.29).

Another back-to-back Blue Devil duo came in the 200 yard IM event.  Senior Alex Czaplicki swam to a second place finish in the event (2:04.29) just a fraction of a second ahead of junior Katie Lang who rounded out the top three with a time of 2:05.77.

Senior Madison Vestergaard continued her dominance on the boards earning gold in the 1m diving event with a score of 250.10.

DAY ONE

Day one of the 2012 NEC Championship opened with two relay events.

First was the 200 yard medley relay.  Seniors Alex Czaplicki and Kristen Malski, junior Katie Lang, and sophomore Helene Neuhaus made up Central's 'A' relay team.  The team swam to a third place finish touching the wall at 1:45.89.

The second and final event of day one was the 800 yard freestyle relay.  Czaplicki and Lang also headed this relay team along with juniors Allison Rasile and Taylor Friedmann.  Finishing second, the squad posted a time of 7:25.80, just .05 seconds behind first place St. Francis (P.A.) (7:25.75).