Blue Devils Remain In Second After Two Days at NEC Championships

Sophomore Alex Czaplicki and freshman Taylor Friedmann each won one event on Friday, but Central Connecticut State University remains in second place after two days of competition at the Northeast Conference swimming and diving championships. Czaplicki won the first individual event of the night, touching in at 4:32.21 in the 400 IM. Friedmann broke another CCSU freshman record on Friday, winning the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:50.75.

Friedmann's time of 1:50.75 topped Joanna Bocer's record of 1:52.01, set back in 2004, and was only six hundredths of a second off of Tammie Repass's CCSU school record of 1:50.69. Senior Kandra Kane took second in the event, finishing in a time of 1:52.60, while freshman Lauren Shortell touched in at 1:59.90 for sixth place in the 200 free.

Czaplicki's 4:32.21 earned her gold medalist honors in the 400 IM. Teammate freshman Lauren O'Kelly placed seventh in the event, touching in at 4:38.43. To start off the second night of competition, Czaplicki was joined by freshmen Hannah Packer and Katie Lang, as well as sophomore Kristen Malski to place second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:47.64.

Lang and Packer then went on to score points for CCSU in the 100 butterfly. Lang took bronze medalist honors, recording a time of 59.40 seconds. Packer finished less than a second behind Lang, placing eighth in 1:00.10.

It was then Malski who got in on the action. The sophomore finished as the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke, touching in at 1:07.31. Junior Alyssa Carlucci added some points for the Blue Devils in the event, as she placed eighth in a time of 1:09.11.

The final individual event of the night was the 100 backstroke. Packer added her second top 10 finish of the night, placing third in 58.13 seconds. Fellow freshman Allison Rasile took sixth place, touching in at 1:00.55.

The Blue Devils finished off night two by winning the 800 freestyle relay and getting within 28.5 points of St. Francis (PA). The team of Kane, Czaplicki, O'Kelly and Friedmann won the event by 10 seconds, recording a time of 7:38.26.

CCSU finished the second day of competition with 334 points, trailing the Red Flash who totaled 362.5 during the first two days of action. Wagner is currently in third with 222.5 points, while Bryant is fourth with 193.

The final day of the championships will continue tomorrow with prelims starting at 10:00 a.m. and finals beginning at 6:00 p.m. at Yale University in New Haven.