CCSU In Second After First Day at Northeast Conference Championships

In pursuit of its third straight Northeast Conference Championship, the Central Connecticut State University swimming and diving team stands 11 points back of St. Francis (PA) after day one of competition at Yale University. Freshman Taylor Friedmann highlighted the day, taking first place in the 500 freestyle with a record breaking time of 4:52.56. She topped the best ever time by a Central Connecticut freshman and broke the NEC record while winning the event.

Friedmann broke her own CCSU freshman record of 4:58.37 which she set earlier this season and topped former Blue Devil Tammie Repass's 4:53.55 mark for the best NEC time. Central took all the medals in the 500 free, as senior Kandra Kane placed second with a time of 5:00.06 and freshman Lauren O'Kelly was third touching in at 5:04.89. Freshmen Allison Rasile and Christine Smith also finished in the top 10 in the event. Rasile recorded a seventh place finish (5:08.62), while Smith took 10th in 5:14.66.

The Blue Devils started out the meet by taking fourth in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Friedmann, freshman Katie Lang, sophomore Kristen Malski and junior Alyssa Carlucci recorded a time of 1:38.35. St. Francis (PA) won this event as well as the final event of the day, the 400 medley relay. CCSU performed better in the second relay, placing second with a time of 3:55.39. The squad of Malski, Lang, Friedmann and sophomore Alex Czaplicki finished just over five seconds behind the Red Flash team.

Czaplicki also placed second in the 200 IM, falling to St. Francis (PA)'s Hanna Yttring by only six hundredths of a second (2:06.02). Lang earned bronze medalist honors in the event, touching in less than a second behind Czaplicki at 2:06.69. Malski and Carlucci added top 10 finishes for CCSU in the 200 IM, placing ninth (2:12.17) and 10th (2:12.33), respectively.

Sophomore Madison Vestergaard and senior Kristen Rossi completed half of their diving competition on Thursday. The former placed second in the one-meter dive with a score of 210.10, while the latter took third with 198.85 points.

The Blue Devils will look to get back on top of the results after tomorrow's second day of action. Prelim races begin at 10:00 a.m. and final competition will start at 6:00 p.m. at Yale University.