NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Senior Julie Mullowney (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) qualified for the finals in an individual event for the third straight year on Friday, as the Saint Michael's College men's and women's swimming & diving teams took part in day two of the four-day Northeast-10 Conference Championship in Southern Connecticut State University's Hutchison Natatorium.
The Purple Knight women moved from seventh place entering the day into sixth among nine institutions, with their 103 points edging out Le Moyne College (99) and Adelphi University (98). The men stand sixth among seven schools with 118 points. Saturday's preliminary races begin at 10 a.m. before the finals kick off at 6 p.m.
Mullowney played a hand in 37 of her team's 41 points on Friday, including placing eighth in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.36. It marked the second consecutive year she advanced to the finals race in the event after qualifying for the 100-yard breaststroke finals as a sophomore. This was also the fifth time in six years that a Mullowney competed in the 50 free finals after Julie's sister, Eileen '12, qualified on three occasions.
Mullowney also swam for the sixth-place 400-yard medley relay, which combined for a time of 4:08.18 while coming within 2.69 seconds of a school record. Mullowney, senior Grace Kahn (Fairhope, Ala./Bayside Academy) and first-years Lindsay McNall (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) and Katrina Wiesner (Bow, N.H./Bow) all swam legs, helping fend off seventh-place Le Moyne by 0.73 seconds.
The Purple Knights' "B" 400 medley relay quartet of senior Maddie Craig (Westwood, Mass./Westwood), sophomores Luci Franklin (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Lowell Whiteman School) and Catherine Tierney (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) and first-year Lauren Wheaton (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) were 15th.
The Purple and Gold men earned all of their points during the 400 medley relay. Junior Nathan Paluso (Windham, Maine/Windham), sophomore Joe Thomas (Norwood, Mass./Boston College HS) and first-years Seth Boudreau (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans) and Cam Thirkell (Tyngsboro, Mass./Tyngsboro) placed seventh in 3:52.67. During the "B" final, the quartet of senior Jack Mulderrig (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side), sophomores Nick Johns (Seaford, N.Y./Saint Anthony's) and Chad Phalon (Wantage, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) and first-year Stephen Andersen (Concord, N.H./Concord) nabbed 14th overall.
