Swimming Takes Second at Metropolitan Championships
Junior Karis Fuller Named Swimmer of the Meet After Five Total Victories
Casey Schermick - Director of Athletic Media Relations
FULL RESULTS
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Junior
Karis Fuller was named Swimmer of the Meet and the LIU Post swimming team took second place overall at the Metropolitan Conference Championships this weekend at the Werblin Recreation Center.
Fuller was part of five first-place finishes throughout the event, earning three individual victories and helping the Pioneers to two relay wins.
Karis Fuller was named Swimmer of the
Meet after five total victories.
Her three individual first-place finishes were all "B" Standard qualifying times for the NCAA Division II Championships in March.
As a team, the Pioneers scored 1,149.50 points at the event, finishing just behind Rowan University for the top overall finish. The score was good enough, however, for the top Division II spot at the event.
Day One – Friday, Feb. 18
The Pioneers had an excellent start to the weekend with four first-place finishes on the opening day. To begin the meet, Senior
Laura Bendfeldt, sophomores
Jessica Argelander and
Tove Sparrman, and junior
Caitlin Johnstone took the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:34.75. In the following event, junior
Eline Swensen finished fifth with a time of 5:06.89 in the 500-yard freestyle, less than one second off her season-best time.
Fuller recorded her first win in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing in 2:04.11, the 18th fastest time in Division II this season and fifth-fastest in program history. Sparrman added a third-place finish in the same event at 2:09.51. The Pioneers continued their dominance on the opening day when Bendfeldt out-touched University of Bridgeport's Nina Stegu by .21 second, earning first in the 50-yard freestyle. Her time of 23.39 seconds is tied for 19th fastest in Division II this year and gives her another top-five program time in the event.
The Pioneers closed out day one with another group victory, taking first in the 400-yard medley relay behind an excellent performance by Fuller, Johnstone, freshman
Gena Mendez, and Bendfeldt, touching the wall at 3:50.81.
The Green and Gold tallied 362 points on the first day, putting them in first-place overall, 21 points ahead of Rowan.
Day Two – Saturday, Feb. 17
LIU Post picked up right where it left off on Friday, winning the first event of the evening when Fuller, Johnstone, Bendfeldt, and Sparrman pulled away from Rowan during the third leg of the 200-yard medley relay, finishing at 1:44.30. Following the victory, the Pioneers had solid showings in the 100-yard butterfly when sophomore
Cassie St. Angelo took fifth at 59.57, and in the 200-yard freestyle where Sparrmann posted a season-best time of 1:55.95 for fourth place and Swensen added a seventh-place finish at 1:56.59.
Johnstone added another top finish for LIU Post in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing at 1:05.14. Fuller followed up in the next event with a victory in the 100-yard backstroke at 55.74 seconds, ranking in the top-20 in Division II.
The Pioneers narrowly missed out on a first-place finish in the day's final event, the 800-yard freestyle relay. The group of Mendez, Swensen, freshman
Emily Shoup, and Sparrman clocked a time of 7:44.28, less than two seconds behind Stevens Institute of Technology for the top time.
784.5 points after day two dropped the Pioneers back to second-place overall, trailing Rowan by 56.5 points entering the final day of competition.
Day Three – Sunday, Feb. 18
Fuller kick-started the Pioneers during the evening's second event, earning her final victory in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:00.99. Her preliminary time of 1:59.79 ranks fourth in Division II this season and ranks second in program history. Bendfeldt followed up with a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, recording a time of 52.03 seconds.
Johnstone added a second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing in 2:23.63, fifth-fastest in program history, and Mendez recorded the final individual victory in the 200-yard butterfly, notching the program's fourth-fastest time at 2:07.52.
The Pioneers closed out the meet with a first-place finish in the 400-yard relay, as the group of Argelander, Bendfeldt, Johnstone, and Sparrman bested Rowan by 2.49 seconds with a time of 3:30.15.