WORCESTER -- WPI wrapped up its last competition before NEWMACs as a select group of Engineers swam events at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships. The third day, like the two before, saw numerous personal best and season best times for the Engineers.
 
First-year Audrey Cook (Wakefield, MA) got things off to a hot start as she reset her personal best in the 100 free for the secomd time this calendar year and third time this season. Her previous best stood at 56.34 from three weeks ago, but the Massachusetts native wasn't content with that time, and she blew past the 56.00 barrier with a strong 55.65, a swim that would have placed her 3rd into the final this evening, where she would have been joined by teammates Milena Whitney (Bedford, NH) and Rachel Tsang (Acton, MA). 
 
The men's 100 free saw Nikita Ostapenko (Acton, MA) post the fastest time of the morning, and just one of two sub-50 times as the sophomore went 48.72. Nearly joining him under that barrier was junior Luke Sperling (Downingtown, PA), whose 50.03 is a new personal best by .19, from this meet last year. Sperling wasn't done for the day, as after the 100 back, where fellow junior Ryan Ng (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ) posted the second fastest time of the morning at 54.98, the Pennsylvania native dove in for his third race of the day, the mile.
 
In the 1650, Sperling used a strong and steady tempo to set the early pace, and he pulled himself away from the competition, fellow junior Jacob Antonovich (Fairfax, VT) and first-year William O'Donnell (Noank, CT) to win with a time of 17:41.00, a new best by over a minute. Fellow distance swimmer Emmy Roberts (Monson, MA) posted the second fastest time of her career as she won the first heat with a time of 20:36.05, more than a minute faster than her time from this meet last year. 
 
Roberts wasn't alone in posting the fastest morning swims, as a trio of Massachusetts natives joined her. Jasmine Lam (Dracut, MA), Michael Webb (Medway, MA), and Brian Hall (Westford, MA) each posted the top times in their respective events, with Lam going 2:23.99 in the Women's 200 fly, Webb going 1:58.69 in the Men's 200 fly and Hall touching first in the 200 IM at 1:57.44. 
 
While the personal and season-best times were joyous, the day was a little bittersweet as it did serve as the final occasion for seniors Devin Mihaichuk (Noblesville, IN) and Kacey Tarbrake (Beltsville, MD) to represent the WPI Swimming and Diving team. The pair competed on a relay together at the end of the session, with Tarbrake leading off in a near PB in the 100 back, and Mihaichuk splitting 56.79 on the fly leg. 

Diving recap coming soon...

Swimming Results

Diving Results (Coming Soon)