NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With four gold medals, two school records and a conference record, it was an impressive first night of competition for the Bentley University men's and women's swimming and diving teams during the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Southern Connecticut State University's Hutchinson Natatorium Thursday.
Included was a sweep of the 1,000-yard freestyle by a pair of sophomores competing in their first NE10 championships, Emma Hapkiewicz (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) and Andrew Matjucha (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS).
Hapkiewicz blew away the field in the women's 1,000, with her time of 10:22.06 a school record by 2.68 seconds, bettering the mark set by Melissa Viator in 2019, and a conference record by 0.16 seconds. Her winning margin was more than 13 seconds.
In the men's race, Matjucha and junior Michael Motisi (Ellington, Conn./Ellington HS) finished 1-2 with times of 9:49.28 and 9:50.26. Bentley dominated the event, with freshman Kai West (Kailua, Hawaii) sixth (10:11.56) and classmate Joey Twomey (Sebastian, Fla./Sebastian River HS) ninth (10:16.84). Of a possible 93 points, the Falcons collected 42.
Hapkiewicz was also part of Bentley's 800 free relay team that made it a "six-peat" in the event. She combined with senior Rona Mejiritski (Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green HS) and juniors Dariana Gonzales (Stamford, Conn./Westhill HS) and Kate Galvin (Suffern. N.Y./Suffern HS) for a time of 7:39.27. The quartet won by 1.74 seconds.
In the men's 800 free relay, Bentley finished second in 6:59.70. Junior Anthony Vizental (Concord, Calif./Clayton Valley HS) led off in school record fashion, breaking the 200 free record by 0.11 with a 1:41.00. He was followed into the pool by junior Tanner Eisenhut (Jamesville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS), freshman Calvin Ye (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber HS) and Matjucha.
Junior Mary Huminski (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand HS) repeated as Northeast-10 three-meter diving champion, posting scores of 427.60 in the prelims and 407.05 in the finals, good for a winning margin of 36.05 points. Falcon freshman Hilla Almog (Wayland, Mass./Wayland HS) just missed a trip to the podium, placing fourth with a 340.75.
In the men's one-meter, Bentley seniors Jeremy Glick (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) and Owen Busser (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford HS) were seventh and ninth, respectively. Glick turned in a 368.05 and Busser posted a 3:37.45.
Both Bentley teams finished with the same point total, 99. The men, who are seeking their third straight championships, have a half-point lead over Southern Connecticut. The women are in second, 55 back of Southern.
The four-day championships resume Friday morning at 9:45 am.
