NEW HAVEN, Conn. – For the second straight year, Bentley University sophomore All-America Nicola Mancini (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth HS) has swept the diving events at the Northeast-10 Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships as she added gold in the three-meter to her collection Saturday night at Southern Connecticut State University's Hutchinson Natatorium.
Bentley will begin Sunday's final day of competition in third place with 430 points. Assumption College tops the team standings at 572 and 11-time defending champion Southern Connecticut State University is second, 28 points in front of the Falcons. Also looking to move into the top three are Pave University (409) and The College of Saint Rose (394).
Mancini broke a ten-year-old Northeast-10 championship record while winning the three-meter diving with a score of 452.50. She prevailed by 22.80 seconds over runner-up Jessica Renza of Southern Connecticut and improved on the previous meet record by 14.30 points.
Mancini, who has finished first in every diving event she's competed in this year, had previously captured the one-meter championship on Thursday night. Also in the three-meter, junior Paige Wilde (Naugatuck, Conn./Holy Cross HS) was sixth with a 355.20.
Bentley's other medal on Saturday came in the 200 yard breaststroke with senior Amanda Le (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford HS) earning silver. She finished eight-hundredths of a second back of Southern Connecticut's Elizabeth Hess with a time of 1:05.92.
Freshman Kaitlin McGahie (Boylston, Mass./Tahanto Reg. HS) and senior Heather Exley (Oceanside, Calif./Vista HS) also swam in the finals of the 200 breast, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. McGahie touched in 1:07.61 and Exley's time was 1:09.50.
In the 200 free relay, Bentley missed a trip to the award podium by one place, coming in fourth with a 1:39.46. That quartet included McGahie, Le, sophomore Lindsey Goodwin (Staten Island, N.Y./ Notre Dame Academy) and junior Nadine Edwards (Danbury, Conn./Danbury HS).
Sophomore Meg Pernsteiner (Highland Heights, Ohio/Hawken School) was seventh in the 100 backstroke (59.60) and Edwards took eighth in the 200 free (1:59.69).
Senior Caroline Lewis (Westfield, Mass./Westfield HS) won two "B" finals Saturday night, placing ninth overall in the 400 individual medley (4:43.78) and the 100 backstroke (1:00.56).
Through three days, Bentley has six medals with three gold, two silver and one bronze.
Sunday's action begins with prelims at 10 am and the meet concludes with finals at 6 pm.
