Carroll, Keane Earn Gold On Second Day Of Swimming And Diving Championship

The Central Connecticut State swimming and diving team extended its lead to 98.5 points on the second day of the 2025 Northeast Conference Swimming and Diving Championship.

Abbey Keane defended her 500-freestyle crown, leading four Blue Devils in the championship final of the event.

Kaitlyn Carroll completed the sweep of the diving events, scoring 255.20 points Thursday night, to lead the diving group to 89 points on the 1-meter board.

The Blue Devils finished Thursday with 379.5 points, with Howard remaining in second place with 281 points. Wagner sits in third place with 196 points, followed by Saint Francis (182), LIU (147), Le Moyne (106) and Stonehill (85.5)

The four-day championship, at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH, resumes Friday morning at 10:00 am with preliminary heats of the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and the 1-meter diving.

500. FREESTYLE

• Keane took over in the third 50 of the race and led the rest of the way to earn the gold medal
• Maggie Rutledge captured bronze in the event, lowering her time to 4:58.38, nearly four seconds faster than her preliminary effort
• Taylor DeMarest went 5:05.98 to earn sixth place, while Gabby Spaciano was eighth with a swim of 5:08.92
• Hannah Kretkowski (12^th) and Wynter Berube (15^th) both moved up one spot from their qualifying slot, with Kretkowski dropping more than three seconds to go 5:09.16, and Berube finished at 5:16.56
• Lauren Lord placed third in the C Final, swimming 5:13.55, with Sophia Pincince fourth in the heat at 5:15.45

200 IM

• Gabi Wroblewski finished eighth, clocking 2:08.19 in the championship final
• Julia Herbert went 2:10.52 in the consolation final, placing 11^th
• Grace Young was 1.04 faster than her preliminary swim, finishing as the runner-up in the C Final.

50 FREESTYLE

• Katrine O'Leary took bronze, passing two opponents on the second lap, and touching at 23.37
• Lauryn Cowing swam to a tie for 15^th, touching at 24.31

1-METER DIVING

• Carroll took over the lead in the final rounds and finished with 255.20 points for her second gold medal of the meet
• Zoe Baker earned silver on the 1-meter boar, scoring 232.05, passing the bronze medalist on the final dive
• Rachel Giroux (219.50) and Kristin Krause (209.50) were fourth and fifth, and Ali Albanese finished eighth with 172.10 points
• Asa Bannerman finished 10^th on the 1-meter board, scoring 160.45 points in the consolation final, while Elyse Boothroyd was 12^th with a 141.40 point effort

200 FREESTYLE RELAY

• The Blue Devils swam to a silver medal in the final event on Thursday night, going 1:34.57, touching out Wagner by .02 seconds
• O'Leary led off with a 23.46 and had CCSU in second place where Cowing (23.61), Megan Dunnigan (24.32) and Spaciano (24.32) kept the squad in that position for the entire swim

PRELIM NOTES

500 FREESTYLE

• The Blue Devils qualified four swimmers into the championship final and two more into the consolation heat
• Abbey Keane qualified with a top time of 4:57.35, with Maggie Rutledge in the third spot after going 5:02.28
• DeMarest (5:05.63) and Gabby Spaciano (5:06.09) qualified sixth and seventh respectively in the A Final
• Hannah Kretkowski earned the 13^th spot in the consolation final, with a swim of 5:12.23 and will be joined in the B Final by Wynter Berube, who went 5:15.54
• Sophia Pincince swam a career-best time, 5:17.38 and earned a spot in the C Final as the 20^th seed, while Lauren Lord earned a spot in that heat as well, placing 24^th with a swim of
• Marley Milne started the morning with a swim of 5:21/51, which placed her 25^th in the prelim heats
• Amelia Cieslik rounded out the Blue Devils 500 free swims, posting a career-best 7:09.60, more than 15 seconds off her prior personal-best

200 IM

• All three entrants earned an evening swim for the Blue Devils, led by Gabi Wroblewski who qualified seventh with a swim of 2:08.01
• Julia Herbert earned the 10^th seed in the consolation heat, going 2:10.48 in her preliminary heat
• Grace Young secured a spot in the C Final, touching at 2:13.71

50 FREESTYLE

• The Blue Devils earned a spot in both the championship and consolation final on Thursday night
• Katrine O'Leary is the fifth seed, swimming 23.68 in her morning heat, while Lauryn Cowing clocked a 24.20 and is the 13^th seed

DIVING

• The diving corps placed five competitors into the championship final and two in the consolation final
• Kaitlyn Carroll (236.30) and Zoe Baker (233.60) are the top two qualifiers for Thursday nights final
• Rachel Giroux scored 210.15 to earn the fifth spot out of prelims, with Kristin Krause sixth in the prelim round with a score of 206.15
• Ali Albanese took the seventh spot, tying with a Wagner diver, with matching scores of 179.65
• Asa Bannerman is the 9th seed, scoring 174.25 and Elyse Boothroyd tallied 170.75 points in prelims and enters the consolation final seeded 10th