Swim & Dive Completes Sonny Werblin Invite Saturday

The Central Connecticut swimming and diving team completed its competition at the Sonny Werblin Invitational hosted by Rutgers University on Saturday. Senior Kristina Gulia was the highest-placing swimmer in an individual event, claiming third in the 100 yard breaststroke with her time of 1:11.11.

RESULTS

Sophomore Alaina Papiro touched the wall just behind Gulia in the 100 breaststroke with her time of 1:11.61, good for fourth place, and was followed closely by senior Erin Massey (1:15.24, sixth) and freshman Kaysha Dassler (1:15.60, seventh).

In another impressive top-five finish for Central, freshman Sabree Thomas placed fourth in the 100 butterfly with her time of 1:00.26, shaving over a second off of her time from last week against LIU Post (1:01.53). Thomas was joined in the top 10 in the field of 22 by senior Kellen Power who placed eighth, registering a time of 1:02.55.

Kathryn Kiely also earned a top-10 performance. The senior took sixth in the 200 yard freestyle with her time of 2:00.74. Kiely was followed by classmate Massey who finished 12th, clocking in at 2:03.84, good for 12th place in the field of 29.

Central boasted five other top-10 swimming performances on the day. Freshman Stephanie Czulewicz finished 10th in the 200 backstroke, registering a time of 2:15.95, besting last week's performance (2:18.20) by more than two seconds. Freshman Janel Crespo followed in 14th with her time of 2:19.04.

In the 200 breaststroke, Gulia displayed a ninth-place showing with her time of 2:34.07, exactly two seconds faster than her performance last week (2:36.07). Papiro followed in 12th with her time of 2:35.87. Freshman Lisa Ward clocked in at 2:39.25 (14th) and classmate Christine Rasile touched the wall in 2:42.83 for 17th.

In addition to her fourth-place showing in the 100 butterfly, Thomas also nabbed 10th in the 200 butterfly with her time of 2:18.38. She was followed by sophomore Selene Chilton (2:19.18, 12th), Power (2:21.88, 16th), Crespo (2:22.12, 18th) and Ward (2:22.52, 20th).

Kiely finished 10th in the 1650 freestyle, touching the wall in 18:30.51 and was followed by a trio of Blue Devils consisting of senior Kasey Chilton (18:36.93, 12th), junior Karen Novak (18:43.47, 13th) and sophomore Reyna Zascirinskis (19:20.70, 14th).

The remaining top-10 performances from the Blue Devils came in the 400 yard IM in which Czulewicz touched the wall ninth in 4:54.94, followed closely by Kiely (4:55.12, 10th) and Selene Chilton (5:00.01, 11th).

Other strong individual performances included Rasile, who placed 12th in a field of 60 in the 100 freestyle event with her time of 56.33. Massey came in just behind in 56.49, good for 14th. Also, Czulewicz was the top CCSU finisher in the 100 backstroke with her time of 1:04.45, also finishing 14th.

In the relay events, the Blue Devils garnered top-five finishes in all three in which they competed. In the 400 freestyle relay, Rasile, Thomas, Massey and Power clocked a 3:47.78 for fourth place. The foursome also claimed fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with their time of 1:42.82. Thomas and Massey also helped lead the 200 medley relay squad to fifth place (1:55.77), along with Czulewicz and Papiro.

Overall, Central displayed 22 top-10 swimming performances on the day, including six in the top-five.

From the diving board, sophomore Jessica Goldman placed third in the 3-meter competition on Friday, however, Saturday's 1-meter results are not yet available. Updates to follow when Saturday's diving results become available.

The Blue Devils return home for the Blue Devil Diving Invitational this Saturday, Oct. 26. The meet is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.