Swimming and Diving 2/22/2020 9:47:00 PM

Two Finalists Highlight the Final Day for AU at the PL Swim & Dive Championships

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Two finalists and a number of other impressive performances highlighted the fourth and final day of the 2020 Patriot League Championships for American University men's and women's swimming and diving. Both programs placed eighth overall, with the women moving up a spot from a year ago.

DAY FOUR HIGHLIGHTS

The women's 400 freestyle relay team of Ellie Kight, Eleanor Felton, Kyra Manson and Alex Brosvik was just one one-hundredth of a second off school-record time, placing seventh in 3:28.18. Felton, Manson and Brosvik were all part of the relay that did set the record at the Patriot Invitational in November of 2018.
Junior Liam Riebling cut well over half a second off his prelims time in finishing with a career-best time of 1:50.40 and taking 11th place overall in the men's 200 butterfly. He had advanced with the 12th-fastest time and moved up one spot. His time also moves him up AU's all-time list, from seventh to sixth.
In the prelims of the women's 200 butterfly, junior Alex Feys was just short of her season best but advanced to the consolation final by finishing 14th overall in 2:05.54. In the night session, Feys came in at 2:05.51 and scored points for AU by placing 15th.
Senior diver Connor Chidsey earned a career-best score in his final performance on the men's 3-meter, placing 12th overall with a total of 216.45 points. Sophomore diver Christian Hernandez placed 14th in the same event, also recording a career-best score of 206.10. Chidsey ranks 11th all-time at AU with his score, while Hernandez ranks 13th.
Junior Natalie Hamlet moved up two spots on the program's all-time list in the same event with her prelims time of 2:09.40, a personal best.
Freshman Gabi Suarez scored a point and recorded the program's 14th-best time in the women's 1,650 freestyle, coming in at 17:57.89.
Kight recorded the fifth-fastest time in program history with a personal-best 51.86 in the prelims of the women's 100 freestyle. Felton moved up to eighth on the same all-time list with a new personal best time of 51.99.
Suarez and senior Emily Gill both achieved personal best times in the prelims of the women's 200 backstroke.
In the women's 200 breaststroke, freshman Hana Weber swam a personal best time, as did freshman Sawyer Moseley in the men's 200 breaststroke. Freshman Ella Thompson achieved a personal best time in the women's 200 butterfly, and freshman Jack Grad swam a personal best time in the men's 200 butterfly.

OVERALL TOP MOMENTS

Junior Ellie Kight, senior Ellen Johnson, junior Natalie Hamlet and senior Ryan Jolley teamed up and broke a 19-year old school record in the women's 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:35.92. Kight's 200 free leadoff time of 1:52.17 ranked as her career best and the seventh-best performance at AU.
Sophomore Eleanor Felton was a part of two school records, including an individual one. She swam the program's second-best time in the women's 100 butterfly prelims before breaking the 11-year old record in the consolation final with a time of 55.45 to place 10th overall.
Teaming up with senior Alex Brosvik, junior Kyra Manson and junior Abby Longstaff, Felton was also part of the women's 200 freestyle relay which placed seventh in a school-record time of 1:34.55. The same foursome came 0.11 seconds away from setting a school record in the 200 medley relay on night one of the championships.
AU got 12 points from junior Liam Riebling who advanced to the championship final in the men's 100 butterfly. His time of 49.03 in the final was good enough for seventh place overall, ranking as the Eagles' best individual finish of the meet. Riebling placed 11th in the championship final of the 200 butterfly on the final night of the meet with a career-best time of 1:50.40.