WORCESTER -- Despite a snowy morning, the WPI men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded the GNAC championships on a high note with multiple top times and a plethora of personal bests. The day kicked off with 100 free, where Alia Ureta (Hackensack, NJ) officially broke the 1-minute barrier for the first time, recording a mark of 59.82. On the men's side sophomore Luke Sperling (Downingtown, PA) nearly broke 50 for the first time as he dropped from a season best of 52.89 to a new mark of 50.22. Junior Kacey Tarbrake (Beltsville, MD) had a similar drop going from 54.95 to 52.97. 
 
Also having a strong end to his meet and his season was sophomore Jack Werb (Raynham, MA). Werb started the day off with a PB in the 50 breaststroke as he broke 30 for the first time, hitting the wall in 29.43.  He later returned to the pool in the 200 IM, where the Massachusetts native sliced not only four seconds off his season best of 2:17.01, but also two seconds off his old PB of 2:15.12 to record a new mark of 2:13.19. 
 
Just two events later, Werb returned to the pool for the 400 Medley Relay. Swimming backstroke, he threw down his third straight PB of the meet leading off the relay with a 1:03.75 split. Patrick Tirch (Poughkeepsie, NY), Sperling and Dan Cory (Reading, MA), all fellow sophomores rounded out the relay, with Sperling's split of 56.41 being notably impressive as his PB from December stands at 59.44. 
 
Cory's anchor leg of 50.80 was also a strong performance at the end of the meet as the sophomore had in the individual event gone 52.24, which was still a season best time by over a second. Cory also led a quartet of Engineers in the 200 fly, as the Reading native split 59.05 and 1:02.23 to hit the wall in a season-best of 2:01.34. Finishing behind Cory was first-year Aidan Domanico (New Windsor, NY) who dropped close to 11 seconds off his season best to record a time of 2:04.57. Domanico's surge of speed on the last 50 was just enough to pass teammate Devin Mihaichuk (Noblesville, IN) who also went a season best time of 2:04.72. 
 
Junior Jake Thomas (Wenham, MA) posted the fastest time of the morning in the 200 IM, swimming a swift time of 2:01.41 and junior Sam Witscher (Portland, OR) posted the fastest time in the men's mile, swimming a time of 17:56.31, while his teammate Emmy Roberts (Monson, MA) posted a new personal best of 21.43.04, the second fastest swim amongst the women.
 
After the prelims were over the divers took to the 3m board. Junior Katrina Yurista (Laramie, WY) scored a strong 404.35 just a point less than teammate Tom Fitzgerald (East Longmeadow, MA) who posted the highest score on the men's side, totaling 403.40. Their teammate, Val Corrente (East Setauket, NY) was just behind the first year scoring the second highest total on the men's side (389.10). 
 
The Crimson and Gray now turns its attention to hosting the NEWMAC Championships in two weekends.  The four-day meet begins on Thursday, February 10th at 4pm with the men's 1-meter diving and both 800 freestyle relays.
 
Swimming Results
 
Diving Results