NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Saint Michael's College swimming & diving first-year Lindsay McNall (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) met a provisional standard for the NCAA Championship on Sunday while becoming the fourth swimming & diving student-athlete in school history to earn an all-conference finish during the fourth and final day of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in Southern Connecticut State University's Hutchison Natatorium. McNall and senior Julie Mullowney (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) both broke school records.
As a team, the Saint Michael's women finished seventh out of nine schools with 230 points, trailing Le Moyne College by 19 points for sixth place. The men were seventh among seven with 206 points, coming within 37 of Adelphi University. The Southern Connecticut State men (912) and Assumption College women (818) won their respective championships.
McNall captured second place in the 200-yard backstroke, as the top two finishers in each event claim all-conference laurels. Her time of 2:04.06 lowered a program mark she set last month by 4.56 seconds and was good for her first NCAA "B" cut, as she will have to wait and see if she gains entry into the NCAA Championship. McNall joined eight-time all-conference qualifier Eileen Mullowney '12 as the lone swimmers in school history to land all-league finishes, while female diver Tierney Carey '09 and male diver Max O'Brien '13 also did so. McNall joined Eileen Mullowney and O'Brien in turning the feat as first-years.
Julie Mullowney placed 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:31.95, breaking her own two-year-old school record by 0.85 seconds. Senior Maddie Craig (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) shaved 3.52 seconds off of her morning trials showing to claim 14th during the 200-yard butterfly in 2:28.70, and classmate Emily Dieter (Saint Charles, Ill./Saint Charles North) was 16th at 2:38.88. Senior Grace Kahn (Fairhope, Ala./Bayside Academy) nabbed 16th during the 200 back in 2:17.66, while classmate Jill Connors (Dedham, Mass./Archbishop Williams) fell shy of qualifying for the 200 breast "B" finals race by 0.36 seconds. First-year Katrina Wiesner (Bow, N.H./Bow) was 0.03 seconds behind the last qualifier for the 100-yard freestyle "B" finals race.
In the 400 free relay, Wiesner joined junior Kim Brady (Morris Township, N.J./Academy of Saint Elizabeth) and sophomores Luci Franklin (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Lowell Whiteman School) and Catherine Tierney (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) to place seventh at 3:53.13. A second quartet of Craig, Dieter, Kahn and first-year Cymantha Rogers (Swampscott, Mass./Swampscott) corralled 16th place.
During the men's 200 back, first-year Seth Boudreau (Saint Albans, Vt./BFA-Saint Albans) placed 12th in 2:09.49, while sophomore Chad Phalon (Wantage, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) was 13th at 2:14.93 after shaving 3.39 seconds off of his morning trials showing. Junior Nathan Paluso (Windham, Maine/Windham) was 14th in the 200 breast at 2:20.05, just 1.89 seconds short of his own school record and 3.27 ticks faster than during the preliminary race. First-year Cam Thirkell (Tyngsboro, Mass./Tyngsboro) was 15th in the 200 fly at 2:08.13, 2.44 seconds faster than in trials, and classmate Riley Faszewski (Hooksett, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) claimed 15th in the 1,650 free at 19:53.24.
The Purple Knights' top 400 free relay foursome placed seventh, with Paluso, senior Jack Mulderrig (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) and sophomores Brandon MacPherson (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) and Joe Thomas (Norwood, Mass./Boston College HS) combining for a time of 3:31.49. The "B" quartet of Faszewski and first-years Stephen Andersen (Concord, N.H./Concord), Ryan Butler (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and Sean Glasheen (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) notched a 15th-place finish.
Both teams head to the three-day New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Championship next weekend at the University of Rhode Island, with the meet beginning on Friday.
