Watts Wins Another Gold; Eagles set Three More School Records on Final Day of Patriot League Swim & Dive Championships

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The all-time medal count for senior Mimi Watts improved to nine and now includes five golds as Watts took the top spot yet again in the 100 freestyle on the final day of the Patriot League Championships. Watts did so by breaking her own school record, and the Eagles added two more relay school records to bring the total count to eight new records for the week.

Notable Women's Results

Watts won the prelims in the 100 free in 50.33 before shaving off nearly a full second by going 49.34 at night. That broke her own previous school record of 49.80 set a year ago, and earned her a second gold medal this week.
Freshman Lian Jeong Engle advanced to the B final in the 100 free in 51.53 to place 11th, but dropped over half a second in the final. Her time of 51.18 earned her 13th overall and is the fourth-fastest PR in program history.
Sophomore Dylan Moulton just barely missed the finals in the 100 free, but finished with a PR of 52.40 that ranks 14th all-time in program history.
Watts, Jeong Engle, Moulton and sophomore Isabel McGovern teamed up for their second relay school record as a foursome, this time in the 400 free relay as they went 3:25.36 which is well over a second faster than the previous mark.
Junior Amaya Tomma (2:03.39) and senior Sasha Uspenskaya (2:04.33) both advanced to the B final in the 200 backstroke.
Uspenskaya's prelims time was a new PR that moved her up to 11th on the all-time list at AU, but smashed it in the finals with a time of 2:03.34 that placed her fifth in the B final and now has her in eighth all-time in program history. Tomma placed eighth in the B final and fell short of her fastest time at AU of 2:02.51.
In the 200 breaststroke, sophomore Grace Netz placed 15th in the prelims to advance to the B final, while sophomore Katie Yoo swam a PR of 2:26.33 to earn a spot in the C final. Netz dropped over half a second to go 2:22.66 in the final and place 13th overall, while Yoo also dropped another half second to finish in 2:25.78. Netz already held the sixth spot all-time for PRs at AU, and Yoo now has the 16th spot.
For a second day in a row, McGovern earned a B final spot, this time in the 200 fly as she placed 11th with a short-lived PR of 2:03.03 that improved on her own fourth-place spot all-time at AU. McGovern shaved off time to go 2:02.80 in her finals swim, tying for third all-time on AU's list and taking 11th overall in the event.
Also advancing in the 200 fly was sophomore Veronica Lester, to the C final in 2:07.17. Lester dropped nearly a second and a half later in the day, winning the C final in a PR of 2:05.78 that moves her from 10th to ninth all-time at AU.
Freshman Kate Williams dropped almost 26 seconds off her entry time in the 1,650 freestyle, going a lifetime-best 17:16.97 to place 13th overall and move into fourth all-time at AU. Also scoring points for the Eagles in that event were senior Mallory Meister (22nd in a season-best 17:44.15, short of her ninth-place PR at AU) and freshman Ella Shifflett (24th with a PR of 17:46.16 that ranks 14th all-time).

Notable Men's Results

Senior Nick Buckley, sophomore Colin Clough, freshman Connor Florence and senior Caleb Farris ended the meet on a high note for the Eagles, finishing the 400 free relay in exactly 3:00.00 to set a new school record. For the second night in a row, it was a record that took 24 years to be broken, as the previous mark of 3:00.70 was set in 2000. American also took fifth place in the event, a very strong finish for the Eagles to close out the week.
Farris and Buckley both earned spots in the C final of the 100 free. Farris went 45.29 for a new PR that moved him up to third all-time at American, and he later broke his PR yet again with a 45.27 in the finals for 19th place overall, while Buckley took 22nd in 45.65.
Although he just missed finals, Clough finished with a PR of 45.69 in the 100 free to move up into a tie for sixth all-time at AU, and Florence improved on his own spot of 12th on the list with a PR of 46.00.
Senior Will Timme dropped over a second and a half off his previous season best and also set a lifetime best by going 2:04.36 in the prelims of the 200 breaststroke, placing 21st to advance to the C final and move up to 11th all-time at AU.
Junior Daniel Coughlin improved on his own 10th-place spot all-time at AU in the 200 fly, and advanced to the C final, with his time of 1:52.05 in the prelims that put him in 18th. He set a new PR yet again in the final, going 1:51.91 to place 20th overall.
Junior Seamus Brown missed the finals in the 200 fly but hit a PR of 1:53.33 to improve his 13th-place time at AU.
Freshman Brent Hinckley finished the 1,650 free in 16:06.01 to place 17th and rank 11th all-time at AU, while senior Joe Melin (19th) and junior Seamus Brown (22nd) also scored points in that event for the Eagles.