WORCESTER -- A select group of athletes from the WPI Swimming and Diving program competed in the first day of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships, held here, in Worcester, MA. The Engineers posted multiple personal and season-best times from the first session and have set themselves up well to continue their run of success on days two and three.
 
First year Amelia Rabe (Lawrenceville, NJ) posted a new personal best in the first event of the morning, going 5:53.35, a time that would have placed her 5th into the final tonight, had she not been exhibition. On the men's side, the top five places in the final tonight would have been occupied by Engineers as junior Brian Hall (Westford, MA) posted a season best and top time of 4:18.21. Closely behind him were sophomore Nikita Ostapenko (Acton, MA)  and junior Patrick Tirch's (Poughkeepsie, NY) 4:23.91 and 4:25.93, which not only would have occupied the second and third spots, but also stand as new Personal Bests.
 
Simmons' Carli Quinlan lit up the pool with a conference record of 1:54.10 in the 200 free, but WPI sophomores Veronica Finucane-Tuccio (Excelsior, MN) and Sophie Robinson (Westboro, MA) put up strong swims as well, recording the 3rd and 4th fastest times of the morning, with a 2:03.48 and 2:04.73 respectively, the latter of which being a new PB for Robinson. In the men's 200 free, it was a pair of first-years leading the way as Deion Chung (Honolulu, HI) and Tomas Manole (San Jose, CA), with Chung's 1:46.29, the top time by just under two seconds, and Manole's third ranking 1:49.17, clocking in as a new PB and representing his first foray into the sub 1:50 territory. 
 
The men's 50 fly also saw some PBs for the Engineers as Junior Dean Doubek (Arnold, MD) and sophomore Aidan Domanico (New Windsor, NY) hit the wall in 22.61 and 23.73, respectively. 
 
Action continues tomorrow at 10:00 am, for the 2nd of the GNAC Championships, where the Engineers' two divers will join the fray as they take to the diving boards
 
Results