PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Zoe Chan broke her own program record in the 200 fly,
Gabi Valladares continued her diving dominance, and the 400 free relay claimed gold as the TCNJ women's swimming and diving team finished off a second-place performance at the Metropolitan Conference championships on Sunday.
The Lions accumulated 1290 team points to land in second, with Mary Washington running away with the team title on the strength of 1476 total points.
Chan, who had already broken her own record in the 200 fly at this year's TCNJ Invitational, went even lower in Sunday's prelims. She clocked a remarkable 2:03.71, a healthy .35 seconds clear of her previous benchmark. Chan had little trouble in the finals session, easily defending her 2020 crown with a winning mark of 2:04.01 that outdistanced her closest competitor by well over four seconds.
Jamie Bowne was fifth at 2:09.28.
Valladares completed her diving double with a runaway victory in the 1-meter, scoring 437.88 to outpace Merchant Marine's Layne Andersen by more than 60 points. Valladares was named diver of the meet, and
Eric Blevins earned women's diving coach of the year accolades.
Julianna Boyle placed eighth with a score of 270.75.
Shannon Hesse and
Rachel Hannah finished within one hundredth of a second of each other in a thrilling 100 free final, placing second and third behind Rowan's Jordan McChesney. Hesse clocked 52.97, a PR by nearly a second; Hannah's 52.68 from prelims was easily a career best.
Cameron Carrazza finished sixth in 54.12.
Faith Cortright earned a bronze medal in the 1650 free (18:08.22), where teammate
Autumn-Brook Tucker was a measly .05 seconds behind her in fourth.
Megan Healey placed sixth in the 200 back (2:11.21).
Haley Crispell notched a personal-best 2:28.23 in the 200 breast prelims during the morning session before taking sixth with a 2:28.53 in the finals.
The Lions finished the weekend in fine fashion as Hannah, Bowne, Hesse, and Chan won the 400 free relay in 3:31.25, more than two seconds faster than Mary Washington's runner-up relay.
