First Day Complete At Landmark Swimming & Diving Championships

KINGS POINT, N.Y. - With six events complete for both the men and the women the United States Merchant Marine Academy men's team and The University of Scranton women's team have surged to the lead at the inaugural Landmark Conference Swimming & Diving Championship. The three-day championship is being held on the campus of USMMA.

The USMMA men earned 209 points on the first day of competition by earning eight top-3 finishes in individual events. Susquehanna University is in second place with 158 points, while Scranton sits in third with 85 points. The Catholic University of America is just two points behind Scranton, while Goucher College and Drew University are tied for fifth with 45 points.

On the women's side Scranton rode first and second place finishes in a pair of events to 173 points to earn the first day lead. Goucher is within striking distance with 121 points while Catholic collected 97 points on day one. Susquehanna with 75 points rounds out the top four, and USMMA, Drew and Juniata College follow with 61, 47 and 32 points respectively.

Erin O'Connor and Lauren Hosko each earned a first-place finish to help Scranton to its day one lead. O'Connor swam a time of 5:17.79 to win the 500 freestyle, and then Hosko followed it up by winning the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:16.80. Scranton helped build its lead by claiming the top four places in the 500 freestyle.

Competition opened with the Catholic women earning a victory in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Lauren Wood, Samantha McClellan, Helen Nicoletti and Krystal Dole swam a time of 1:42.03 to win by more than a second.

After Scranton's victories in the next two events, Britt Hogstrom helped Goucher cut into the lead as she claimed a victory in the 50 freestyle with a winning time of 25.14. USMMA diver Jaquelyn Peterson then earned 16 points for the Mariners by winning the 3-meter dive with a score of 349.65.

The final event of the night went to Goucher as Hogstrom teamed with Bethany Natoli, Candace Crasto and Sam Sutherland to win the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:11.13. The winning time was more than 10 seconds faster than their seed time.

On the men's side USMMA's lone first place finish on day one came in the 1-meter dive as freshman Nicholas Halbach posted a score of 442.65 to claim the victory. But the Mariners claimed the second and third place spots in every individual event to help build their lead.

The first winning team of the day in the men's competition was Susquehanna which swam a time of 1:27.23 to win the 200 freestyle relay by nearly a second over USMMA. Jeffrey Fornadley, Jeff Kormanik, Derek Wolf and Joe Scheno combined for the win.

Fornadley would earn an individual first-place finish later in the evening when he touched the wall first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.57. The Crusaders earned one more win as they closed the evening session by winning its second relay, this time the 400 medley relay. Wolf, Fornadley and Scheno were joined by Alex Thurstlic to record a time of 3:35.31 to earn 32 points for their team

The first individual winner on the men's side was Catholic freshman Brian Jones who swam a time of 4:51.33 to win the 500 freestyle. Joseph Veselovsky of Scranton was the night's other individual winner. He earned a one-second win in the 200 IM with a time of 1:59.42.

The Landmark Swimming & Diving Championships will continue on Saturday with the prelims beginning at 11 a.m.