Session III Results /
Complete Results
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The 2009 Liberty League Championships have come to a close and the Rensselaer men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams came away with outstanding finishes at this year’s meet. Both teams finished second in the standings, as host Rochester captured the title on both sides. For the women, it marked the first time in six years the Engineers have finished ahead of Union College, which was third.
Among the highlights from this year’s meet were senior
Kelsey Manley (Southbury, CT/Sacred Heart) and freshman
Tina Belletete (Winchendon, MA/Gardner).
Manley earned Female Diver of the Year honors for the second straight season after claiming victory in the 1-meter event with a mark of 365.85 points and finishing second off the 3-meter board with 377.30 points. Belletete was named the Female Rookie of the Year, capping off a solid first half of her season with three victories at the conference meet. She also set a Liberty League record and set a new school record in the 200-backstroke.
On the men’s side, freshman
Ben LeRose (Williamsburg, VA/Lafayette) was named the Male Rookie of the Year after claiming victory in five of the seven events he swam.
Session III saw a number of Engineers post solid finishes to wrap up this year’s championship. For the women, Belletete won the 200-backstroke in a school record time of 2:09.86. Classmate
Mairead Lyons (Leominster, MA/Notre Dame Academy) finished second in the 200-butterfly with a time of 2:14.26, while fellow rookie
Christina Provenza (Millersville, MD/Severna Park) was third in the same event with a mark of 2:19.74.
The men were paced by LeRose, who swam to victory in the 200-fly with a time of 2:00.71, while also helping the 400-freestyle relay team to a win with a time of 3:15.05. Other members of the relay team included
Kevin Ehrlich (Manchester, CT/Manchester),
Luke Flanagan (Old Bethpage, NY/Plainview-Old Bethpage-JFK) and
Julian Schott (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan).
Schott was also victorious in the third session, winning the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:14.35. The Engineers men had outstanding performances in the relay events at this year’s championship, as LeRose, Schott, and Flanagan helped to capture three of the four relay events.
Both squads are now idle until January 15th when they return to action against Union with a 6pm dual meet against the Dutchmen/Dutchwomen at Robison Pool.