WORCESTER, Mass. – Bentley junior Emma Hapkiewicz (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) earned her third gold medal of the meet and Falcon senior Anthony Vizental (Concord, Calif./Clayton Valley HS) twice broke the school record while placing first in the 200 yard butterfly as the Northeast-10 Conference Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships drew to a close Sunday night at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Following the completion of the final event, Hapkiewicz was recognized as the Northeast-10 Female Swimmer of the Meet and Bentley senior Mary Huminski (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand HS) was tabbed as the NE10 Female Diver of the Meet for the third time.
Both Bentley teams finished in second place behind Southern Connecticut State. The men trailed the Owls, 710-576, and the women finished 254.5 points back, 1050.5-796. It was the tenth straight year the Falcon men were in the top two and the 12th straight time the women's team placed in the top three.
Hapkiewicz, who previously earned gold in the 1000 and 500 yard freestyle races, saved her best for last as she dominated the 1650 free, winning by 35 seconds. Her 16:59.48 broke both her own school and meet records (17:12.89) and incredibly, was the eighth best recorded by a Division II swimmer nationally this season.
Vizental twice broke his own school record in the 200 fly, swimming a 1:49.80 in Sunday morning's prelims and bettering that with a 1:49.45 in the finals. Both of those were NCAA B cut times.
Huminski did her work earlier in the weekend as she three-peated as Northeast-10 champion in both the one-meter and three-meter diving. During her career, she is unbeaten in the conference championships.
Bentley also earned three silvers Sunday night, the last coming in the meet-closing men's 400 free relay. Vizental led off and combined with sophomore Tyler Marzano (Hillsdale, N.J./Pascack Valley HS), freshman Carter Ferrara (Cota de Caza, Calif./Mater Dei HS) and senior Ryan Looney (Wilton, Conn./Wilton HS) for a time of 3:03.77.
The other silvers were achieved by junior Andrew Matjucha (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) in the men's 1650 (16:24.12) and junior Emily Blatt (Westford/Westford Academy) in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.12).
There were also three bronze medals, including the women's 400 relay. Making the trip to the podium after teaming up for a 3:33.76 were Hapkiewicz, sophomore Jordan Nuzback (Fairview, Pa./McDowell HS) and seniors Dariana Gonzales (Stamford, Conn./Westhill HS) and Kate Galvin (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern HS).
Freshman Taylor White (Warwick, Bermuda/Warwick Academy) finished third in the 200 backstroke (2:08.11) as did Looney in the 100 free (46.45).
Fourth-place finishes Sunday night were achieved by freshman Leighton Wielgoszinski (Madison, Ind./Madison Consolidated HS) in the 1650 (16:33.22), Galvin in the 100 free (53.22), freshman Morgan Kingsley (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia HS) in the 200 breast (2:26.80), Nuzback in the 200 fly (2:10.40) and grad student Jeremy Glick (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) in the three-meter diving (346.30).
Turning in fifth-place finishes for the Falcons were sophomore Kai West (Kailua, Hawaii/Kailua HS) in the 1650 (17:12.31), freshman Grace Motisi (Ellington, Conn./Ellington HS) in the 200 breast (2:27.72) and freshman Lily Rice (Walton, Ky./Larry A. Ryle HS) in the 200 fly (2:10.78).
There were also four sixth-place finishes for Bentley swimmers on the final night. They were achieved by sophomore Calvin Ye (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber HS) in the 200 back (1:59.17), sophomore Kenneth Ryu (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola HS) in the 200 breast (2:13.95), freshman Caroline Ubert (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington HS) in the 200 fly (2:14.69) and senior Joey Twomey (Sebastian, Fla./Sebastian River HS) in the 200 fly (2:01.71).
During the four-day meet, Bentley swimmers and divers earned 22 medals (eight gold, nine silver and five bronze) and broke school records seven times in six events.
