UB Men Third And Bridgeport Women Fifth After Opening Day Of 2013 Metropolitan Conference Swimming and Diving Championships

Piscataway, N.J.-The University of Bridgeport men's swimming team sits in third place out of 19 teams and the UB are in fifth place out of 18 teams after day one of the 2013 Metropolitan Conference Swimming and Diving Championships taking place at the Rutgers University Aquatic Center located in the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center.  The Bridgeport men amassed 259 points on the opening day of the three-day event.  The College of New Jersey leads the men's standings with 465 points and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is second with 266.5 points.  LIU Post sits atop the women's standings with 446 points, as the Purple Knight women have a total of 264.5 points (fifth place).

The UB men took three first place finishes on day one of the 2013 Metro Championships.  In perhaps the most exciting event of the night for Bridgeport fans, UB men went one-two in the 500-yard Freestyle as sophomore Vladislav Paskas (Zrenjanin, Serbia) edged teammate Davide Sitti (Grad., Castelnuovo Ramgone. Italy) by less than a fingernail, as Paskas finished at 4:36.15 to Sitti's 4:36.16. Both of those times are NCAA "B" cuts.

Junior Oscar Pereiro (Arzua, Spain) took first in the 50-yard Freestyle in a time of 20.40 (NCAA "B" Cut), and the 400-Yard Free Relay team of Pereiro, Ruben Gimenez (Jr., Burgos, Spain), Artur Pietrzak (Sr., Lezno, Poland) and Paskas won that event in a time of 3:18.17 (NCAA "B" Cut) to help take the bitter taste away of a disqualification of the UB 200 Free Relay team earlier in the evening.

In the men's 200-Yard IM, Ruben Gimenez took second place (1:51.60, NCAA "B" Cut), and senior Vyacheslav Fattakhov (Almatt, Kazakhstan) was eighth (1:55.15).

On the women's side, while the Purple Knights did not win any events, several of head coach Brad Flood's charges turned in excellent swims.

In the 500-Yard Freestyle, freshman Sara Savovic (Belgrade, Serbia) took second place (5:02.80-NCAA "B" Cut) and senior Patrycja Zera (Zabki, Poland) grabbed fifth place (5:11.99).

In a swift, women's 50-Yard Freestyle final, sophomore Alina Sotnikova (Riga, Latvia) finished in fourth place (24.13) and classmate Elena Shchekleina (Yekaterinburg, Russia) took sixth (24.17); both NCAA "B" cuts.

Sophomore Mona Hagelstein (Hamburg, Germany) won the women's 200-Yard IM consolation final in a  time of 2:11.57 good for ninth place points.

Both the UB women's 200 and 400-Yard Freestyle Relay teams took second place finishes in times of 1:35.56 and 3:50.74 respectively which are both NCAA "B" cuts. 

Day two action at the 2013 Metropolitan Conference Swimming and Diving Championships begins with Saturday's prelims at 9:30 a.m., and tomorrow's session of finals will start at 5:30 p.m.