KING'S SWIMMERS WRAP UP MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS BREAKING 15 SCHOOL RECORDS IN THE PROCESS
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College swimming teams displayed their best performances in the water all year in the 2011 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships as the squads wrapped up the three-day event at the Catholic Youth Center Sunday. King's squads combined to break 15 school records over the championship event in the process.
As a team, King's women finished 7th with 229 points while the men's squad placed 9th registering 96 points.
On day three, Patricia Manning continued her brilliant showing after capturing the 400 IM championship on Saturday by placing fifth in the 200 breaststroke at 2:33.37, breaking her previous school mark of 2:34.24 set earlier this year. Rebecca Smith (left) also broke into the school record books finishing fifth in the 1650 freestyle at 18:58.48 breaking teammate Maggie Nealer's record 19:00.33 set this season. Smith broke the 1000 freestyle mark also set by Nealer in the same event with a time of 11:26.45. She also set the 100 freestyle record in the first portion of the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 57.82, breaking Kelly Matulewicz's 1995 mark of 58.14.
Also placing for the Lady Monarchs was Caitlin Casey finishing 12th in the 200 butterfly at 2:32.71 and Amanda Casey posting a 16th place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:31.10. The team of Smith, Krystna Homanko, Manning, and Nealer took 7th in the 400 freestyle relay with a school-best time of 3:54.49.
For the men Eric Stencovage (left) finished 7th in the 200 breaststroke at 2:17.17 breaking Kevin Strange's thirty-year mark in the process (2:22.82). Joshua DeBellas garnered a 10th place spot in the 1650 freestyle at 18:16.83, shattering former Monarch Mike Blom's mark of 18:43.92 in 1985 in the process. Justin Weilert took 13th in the 200 butterfly at 2:20.68 to round out the Monarch swimmers on day three. The 400 freestyle relay squad of Jack Harrington, DeBellas, Weilert, and Stencovage finished 9th at 3:31.21, over nine seconds better than their seeded time.
