WORCESTER, Mass. – Bentley University junior Emma Hapkiewicz (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) repeated as women's 1,000-yard freestyle champion as the 2023 Northeast-10 Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships got underway Thursday night at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
For the second consecutive year, the 2022 NCAA Division II participant broke both the school and meet records with her performance. Her time of 10:15.02 bettered the school record by 6.69 seconds, improved on the meet record by 7.04 seconds and was an NCAA B cut. And as she did in 2022, Hapkiewicz captured the race convincingly, by 11.16 seconds over Faith Littleton (Southern Connecticut).
Also in the 1,000, Bentley freshman Grace Motisi (Ellington, Conn./Ellington HS) was fourth in 10:40.67, a career-best.
Leading off the men's 800 free relay, senior Anthony Vizental (Concord, Calif./Clayton Valley HS) broke the Bentley 200 free record, formerly held by Mark Zoda, by about a half-second, with a 1:40.43.
That helped the Falcons finish second in 6:57.76 with the quartet also including junior Sergio Torres (Guaynabo, P.R./Commonwealth Parkville School), senior Mike Motisi (Ellington, Conn./Ellington HS) and junior Andrew Matjucha (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS).
Bentley was also second in the women's 800 free relay, ending a six-year reign as champion. Senior Dariana Gonzales (Stamford, Conn./Westhill HS) led off and was followed by Hapkiewicz, senior Kate Galvin (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern HS) and freshman Taylor White (Warwick, Bermuda/Warwick Academy). They finished in 7:44.75, trailing Southern Connecticut State by 5.27 seconds.
Bentley had three of the top six in the men's 1,000 free with freshman Leighton Wielgoszinski (Madison, Ind./Madison Consolidated) finishing fourth in 9:55.44 to lead the Falcons. Matjucha, the 2002 champion, placed fifth in 9:58.38 and Motisi, Grace's older brother, was sixth in 10:02.47.
The prelims of the three-meter diving were also contested with senior and two-time defending champion Mary Huminski (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand HS) posting the second-best score (396.05) and sophomore Hilla Almog (Wayland/Wayland HS) the third best (393.80, a career-high). A total of just 6.30 points separated the top three. The finals will be Friday night.
In the both the men's and women's team standings, Bentley is second to Southern Connecticut after two events. The men are down five, 81-76, and the women trail 127-87.
The meet will continue through Sunday with Friday's prelims starting at 10:15 am and the finals at 6 pm.
