Nov. 22, 2002
FAIRFAX, VA... The UNC Wilmington men and the Duke women took the lead after the first day of competition at the Patriot Invitational at the Jim McKay Natatorium Friday.
The Seahawk men held a slim 244-239 lead over Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) after the first 10 events, while the Blue Devil women jumped to a huge 318-176 lead over host George Mason.
Several meet records fell in the third year of the event. On the women's side, Duke's Katie Ness won the 200-yard individual medley with a meet-record time of 2:04.08, and both the Blue Devils and UMBC surpassed the previous meet record (3:53.48) in the 400 medley relay. Duke's group of Ness, Lauren Cornet, Amy Halligan and Alison Sundberg won in 3:49.72, while the Retrievers' team of Astrid Sperling, Lindsey Prather, Holly Wittsack and Elyse Gibson was second in 3:53.26.
For the men, UMBC's Carlos Canepa won the 500 freestyle with a meet-record time of 4:34.05, while the UMBC, Seton Hall, George Mason and UNC Wilmington teams surpassed the previous meet record (3:28.54) in the 400 medley relay. UMBC's group of Jakub Sroczynski, Karl Strauss, Geza Szabo and Josh Farley won with a time of 3:26.34, Seton Hall's Jack Leavitt, Steven Falcone, Jason Kay and Jonathan Bertera were second in 3:27.34, Mason's Wes Ebanks, Cameron Charlton, Nate Kellogg and David Cooper were third in 3:28.02, and UNCW's Adam Brenneman, Scott Burrell, Tiago Barreira and David Sokolofsky were fourth in 3:28.21.
Sokolofsky also won the 50 freestyle in 20.94 seconds and joined Adam Brenneman, John Hitt and Berreira in winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:23.97 to lead UNC Wilmington. Duke's John Humphrey took the 200 individual medley in 1:52.13.
George Mason sophomore Emily Welty won the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.17 to lead the host Patriots. UMBC's Wittsack won the 500 freestyle in 5:02.60, and Duke's 200 freestyle relay team of Cornet, Halligan, Julia Lewis and Ness won in 1:37.32.
The Patriot Invitational continues Saturday and Sunday.
TEAM SCORES (thru 5 events each)
MEN
UNC Wilmington - 244
UMBC - 239
George Mason - 171.5
Duke - 162.5
Seton Hall - 158
George Washington - 80
Georgetown - 71
Howard - 45
Shippensburg - 36
St. Bonaventure - 32
WOMEN
Duke - 318
George Mason - 176
UMBC - 143
UNC Wilmington - 136
George Washington - 111
Georgetown - 70
Seton Hall - 64
Shippensburg - 55
St. Francis (PA) - 8
Howard - 4
