Thomas Kane Plays Hand in Three School Records on Day 3 of NE10 Championship

WORCESTER, Mass. - Senior Thomas Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) played a hand in three school records as the Saint Michael's College men's and women's swimming & diving teams completed the third day of the four-day Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Saturday at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Sports & Recreation Center.

STANDINGS

The Purple Knight men remain fourth among seven schools with 289 points, holding off fifth-place College of Staten Island by 48 heading into Sunday's final day.
The women are seventh out of eight with 205 points, 28 short of sixth-place Adelphi University.

MEN'S MEET
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

Senior Thomas Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), 3 school records
Senior Will Englehardt (Sparta, N.J./Sparta), 1 school record
Junior Rafael Kowal (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh/Alfred State), 1 school record
Sophomore JJ Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), 1 school record

THE ACTION

Thomas Kane lowered the 100-yard breaststroke school record twice on Saturday. After touching the wall in 57.30 during morning trials to trim his own three-month-old mark by 0.45 seconds, he took fourth in evening finals at 57.11, missing an all-league placement by 0.20 ticks. Kane also twice reset the 50 breast mark during his opening-leg splits, having set the record at last year's NE10s (26.92) before going 26.65 in trials on Saturday and 26.32 in finals. First-year Dylan Reichl (Loudonville, N.Y./Shaker) finished 15th (1:02.83) in the 100 breast.
Englehardt, Kowal and the Kane brothers set a school record in the 200-yard medley relay (1:34.62), shattering the five-year-old mark by 1.45 seconds during a fourth-place finish after being seeded seventh entering the championship. The foursome tied a program standard for the highest finish by any relay.
The Purple Knights' B relay took fourth in its heat and 12th overall (1:40.26). Reichl and juniors Ben Insley (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh), Alex Meek (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) and Connor Quirbach (Lowell, Mass./Chelmsford) comprised the quartet.
Kowal finished fifth in the 400-yard individual medley (4:09.92), falling 0.18 seconds shy of his own year-and-a-half-old school record while cutting 2.14 seconds from his trials time.
First-year Lucas Haynes (Holliston, Mass./Holliston) placed eighth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.12), followed by Quirbach in 11th (1:46.68), Englehardt in 13th (1:47.74) and sophomore Hunter Daily (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) in 16th (1:52.35). Daily dropped 2.71 seconds from his seed time during the morning prelims as the final entrant to qualify for evening finals.
Meek placed 10th in the 100-yard backstroke (54.61), while senior Timmy Voelker (Stockholm, N.J./Wallkill Valley Regional) ended the night in 16th (1:00.01) after trimming nearly four seconds from his seed time. He opened the day by cutting 3.1 seconds in trials to become the last qualifier for finals before clipping another 0.78 seconds during the evening. Voelker edged out senior Brendan Hopping (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) for the last finals spot, with Hopping taking 17th in prelims.
Insley finished 11th in the 100-yard butterfly (53.08), posting the second-best drop in time between trials and finals (1.18) among the event's 16 finals entrants. JJ Kane was 14th (54.00).

WOMEN'S MEET
THE ACTION

The Purple Knights' top 200 medley relay foursome finished sixth (1:51.83), coming within 0.61 seconds of a seven-year-old school record. Seniors Jessie Hart (Canton, Mass./Canton) and Margaret Wilk (Hardyston, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), sophomore Hannah Steen (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth) and first-year Sydney McSweeney (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) swam legs.
In the B race, senior Katie Dzambo (Windermere, Fla./Bishop Moore), junior Riley Beaudoin (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable Regional), sophomore Madeline Waldt (Abingdon, Md./The Catholic High School of Baltimore) and first-year Mary Mongelli (Rockville, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross) combined to place fourth in their heat and 12th overall (1:55.65).
Hart took sixth in the 100 breast (1:07.36), followed by Dzambo in 13th (1:11.92). Hart came within 0.60 seconds of a nine-year-old school record. First-year Katie Rocha (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) missed qualifying for evening finals by 0.68 seconds during her morning trials race.
Junior Ashley Silveira (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) took seventh in the one-meter diving (279.15), coming within 3.2 points of sixth place.
Steen captured 10th place in the 100 fly (1:01.66) and Mongelli was 14th (1:03.38).
Wilk took 11th in the 100 back (1:02.24).
Junior Livy Waranis (Narragansett, R.I./Narragansett) cut 3.93 seconds off of her trials time to place 13th in the 400 IM (5:12.21).
In the 200 free, sophomores Ashley Meade (Belle Harbor, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) and Ayden Walsh (Tallahassee, Fla./Creekside) were 14th (2:02.38) and 15th (2:20.47), respectively. During prelims, Beaudoin was one spot short of qualifying for finals.