Dukes Take Home Second Place at CAAs

Wednesday, February 25

Richmond, Va.

James Madison University

CAA Swimming Championships

2/28/2015 10:41:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

RICHMOND, Va. - The James Madison swimming and diving team notched a meet record and two NCAA B-cut times to cap off its fifth consecutive top-two finish at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, as the Dukes wrapped up competition on Saturday evening.

JMU took home runner-up honors with a total of 640 points for the meet, 80 behind conference champion Towson and 55 ahead of third-place William & Mary. The Dukes have finished second four of the past five seasons, the only exception being JMU's CAA Championship in 2012.

Sophomore Claire Adkins started the evening with a top-eight finish in the 1650 freestyle, clocking a 16:54.18 to take seventh place. Senior Aimee Hooper added crucial points in her last CAA Championships with an 11th-place finish with a time of 17:01.71.

In the 200 backstroke, sophomore MaryElizabeth Warhol won the B-final with a time of 2:00.46, while sophomore Jennifer Vieni (2:02.97), freshman Abby Ortman (2:03.17) and freshman Courtney Clarke (2:03.24) were the first three alternates after the preliminaries.

Junior Camilla Czulada turned in the Dukes' first NCAA B-cut of the evening in the 100 freestyle taking home the bronze medal with a time of 49.92. Senior Susanne Gingher finished just off Czulada's shoulder in fourth, touching in 50.36.

JMU put three swimmers in the B-final of the event. Freshman Quinn MacMillan (50.77) and junior Kristen Zielinski (50.96) grabbed 10th and 11th, respectively, while junior Carli Molano capped off the night with a 51.56 in 15th.

Senior Sin Hye Won notched the Dukes' second NCAA B-cut and her second B-cut of the week with a 2:14.90 in the 200 breaststroke, good for the bronze medal, also her second of the week. Freshman Katie Parker joined Won in the championship final, picking up crucial points with a seventh-place finish in 2:17.34.

The Dukes had another pair in the championship final of the 200 butterfly, as junior Cameron Martin and senior Melissa Criscuolo took fourth and fifth, respectively, within inches of each other. Martin grabbed fourth in 2:02.55, while Criscuolo was a fingertip behind in 2:02.56.

JMU capped off the championships with a meet record time in the 400 freestyle relay en route to the gold medal. Czulada, Zielinski, MacMillan and Gingher combined to touch the wall in 3:20.45, besting the record JMU set last year by two-tenths of a second.

At the conclusion of the swimming events, scores from last week's three-meter diving event were added into the team scores.

With the runner-up finish, the Dukes cap off their 2014-15 season that saw them go 8-3 in dual meets, including victories over in-state rivals Old Dominion, Liberty and Richmond, as well as diving wins over Atlantic Coast Conference foes Clemson and Virginia.

NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, where sophomores Taryn McLaughlin and Olivia Lehman and junior Carly Alexander will compete, take place March 9-10 in Piscataway, N.J., while entrants for the NCAA Swimming Championships, scheduled for March 19-21 in Greensboro, N.C., will be released in the coming weeks.