NEISDA Meet: Owls Second After Day #1

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MASS. 2/15/08 - Keene State got off the blocks with a good start after the first day of the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Championships (NEISDA) at UMass-Dartmouth's Tripp Center pool on Friday.

The top three teams are separated by just 17 points. Keene State with 297 points, trails Bryant College (302 points). Defending champion Bentley is third with 285 points.

Sophomore Jackie Foster (Bedford, N.H.) broke the Keene State 500 freestyle record and qualified for the ECAC open meet with her first place finish (5:10.38).

Freshman Rachel Mondello (Stoneham, Mass.) broke the Keene State record in the 50 freestyle twice in one day and her final time of 24.02 broke the UMASS Dartmouth pool record and is a NCAA division III provisional time. Kelly Yankowski made the ECAC open time in the 50 freestyle with her third place finish (25.05).

Sophomore Alea Paddock (Newbury, N.H.) and senior Liesel Dolce (Jamestown, R.I.) also earned All-New England honors. Paddock placed second in the 200 I.M. (2:15.77) and Dolce was fifth in the 200 back (2:20.33).

Owl relay teams turned in strong performances. The 200 freestyle relay (Yankowski, Trutor, Foster, Mondello)placed first at the meet and broke the Keene State record and qualifed for the ECAC open meet (1:39.03) . The 400 Medley relay (Yankowski, Paddock, Trutor, Modello) broke the Keene State record and qualified for the ECAC meet with their second place finish(4:07.39).