WORCESTER, Mass. – Bentley University sophomore All-America Nicola Mancini (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth HS) broke the school record in the three-meter diving twice while accounting for the Falcons' only win during the opening day of the Gompei Invitational at WPI.
Mancini took possession of the 11-meter three-meter diving record Emily Travers had attached to for the past three years. She posted a 451.00 in the prelims, improving on Travers' mark by 1.90 points, and bettered that with a 457.45 winning effort in the finals.
Mancini has now broken a diving record four times this season as last month she improved on the 11-dive one-meter standard and the six-diver three-meter mark. She'll be back in action Sunday when the one-meter competition is held.
Also in the diving, sophomore Courtney Stone (Andover/Andover HS) was fourth with a 374.75.
Bentley's best in the swimming events was senior Amanda Le (Chelmsford/Chelmsford HS). She was second in the 100 yard individual medley (1:03.35) after placing first in the prelims, third in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.25 finals, 1:08.87 prelims) and fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:16.57).
Le also helped Bentley to a sixth in the 200 free relay, combining with sophomore Lindsey Goodwin (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) and freshmen Kaitlin McGahie (Boylston/ Tahanto Reg. HS) and Nicole Hellstern (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug HS) for a 1:46.85.
McGahie was also third in the 100 individual medley (1:04.08) and sixth in the 50 free (25.55). Hellstern and Goodwin teamed with senior Heather Exley (Oceanside, Calif./Vista HS) and sophomore Kelly Culkin (Avon, Conn./Avon HS) for a sixth in the 800 free relay (8:27.96).
Bentley's other top-six effort during day one was a fifth by sophomore Meg Pernsteiner (Highland Heights, Ohio/Hawken School) in the 200 backstroke (2:18.94).
As a team, Bentley finished the day fifth out of nine teams with a score of 979. WPI sits atop the team standings with 1709.5.
The meet concludes Sunday with prelims at 9 am and finals at 4:30 pm. Links to live video and results are available at www.bentleyfalcons.com.
