BRISTOL, R.I. – The RWU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams earned victories Saturday, defeating the University of New England 199.5-48.5 and 189-91, respectively. Senior Joseph Mello (Seekonk, Mass.) qualified for nationals with a score of 290.32 on the 3-meter board.
RWU dominated the meet taking first place in all but six of the events, beginning with the 400 Medley Relay. RWU freshman Ashley Kichline (Souderton, Pa.) kicked off the relay with a record-setting first leg, posting a 100-backstroke time of 1:03.97, beating her own record by .53.
Kichline went on to set two more RWU records taking first place in the 200-freestyle with a time of 2:04.24, a full 1.37 faster than the previous record set by junior Caitlin O’Connor (Wallingford, Conn.). Kichline also won the 200-backstroke with a record-setting 2:17.66, finishing 10.20 ahead of her nearest competitor.
Freshmen performed well on the men’s side as well including Tim Ragan (Topsfield, Mass.) who took first place in the 50-yard backstroke, posting a time of 27.31. Freshman Phil Green (Langhorne, Pa.) posted a time a time of 2:08.05 to take first place in the 200-yard butterfly, while freshman Phil Jacques (Durham, Maine) earned nine points for the Hawks with his first place finish in the 100-yard freestyle.
Both the men and the women won each of their respective relays, gathering 11 points for each first-place finish. The win improves the men’s record to 5-1 on the season, while the women improve to 3-3.
The men and women both travel to Wenham, Mass. Tuesday to face another Commonweath Coast Conference opponent in Gordon College beginning at 5 p.m.