ATHENS, Ga. (TheCCSA.com) – The University of Maryland, Baltimore County men won the 2016 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielson Natatorium. UMBC earned 1,502 points to claim back-to-back titles.
Runner-ups, Incarnate Word finished with 1,281 points, while Old Dominion placed third with 1,255.50 points in their first year as a member of the CCSA. Gardner-Webb took fourth-place with 1,111 points; Florida Atlantic finished in fifth with 969 points, while New Jersey Institute of Technology scored 525.50 points to earn sixth. Howard finished in seventh place with 335 points, while Virginia Military Institute rounded out the field with 270 points.
Incarnate Word’s Kyrylo Shvets saw the first victory of the day for the men as he finished the 1650-yard freestyle in 15:37.87, while UMBC freshman Felix Richtsfeld finished less than a second behind him in 15:38.13.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Ahmed Wahby of UMBC placed first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:46.81. Incarnate Word’s Aaron Moran saw second place just .03 seconds behind Wahby.
Gardner-Webb standout, Nathan Lile, set a CCSA all-time record in the men’s 100-yard freestyle in 43.26 in today’s finals. That time was a full second ahead of the previous record, which was also set by Lile during last year’s CCSA championships. UMBC’s Gregor Spoerlein took second place in 43.90, while Matthieu Burtez of Florida Atlantic took the bronze with a time of 44.16. Their times were good enough to make the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard.
Leo Endres of UMBC won the 200-yard breaststroke with his time of 1:58.99, while Incarnate Word junior, David Moore, finished .01 seconds behind Endres to score an even 1:59.00. Both Endres and Moore made the NCAA ‘B’ cut list.
Old Dominion senior, Reed Matthews, smoked Geoffrey Peitz’s 200-yard butterfly all-time record of 1:46.09 by more than three seconds as Matthews finished in 1:43.04. Freshman Beau Fusilier of Incarnate Word earned second place with a time of 1:47.39. Both Matthews and Fusilier made the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard of 1:47.99.
Gardner-Webb saw the final victory of the day as the Runnin’ Bulldogs were led by Nathan Lile in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Lile joined Connor Bos, Tyler Gomez and Cameron Pou to win in 2:58.41. Old Dominion finished in second place as Anton Mikaelsson, Graham Thatcher, Jacob Zedler and Vitor Sa completed the relay with a time of 2:59.09. Florida Atlantic finished .04 seconds behind ODU with Matthieu Burtez, John Nolte, John Brennock and Konstantin Byshnev.
Felix Richtsfel of UMBC took home the Most Outstanding Male Freshman of the Championship after claiming first in the 500-yard freestyle preliminary, placing second in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing second in the 1650-yard freestyle and participating on UMBC’s second place 800-yard freestyle relay team.
Gardner-Webb senior, Nathan Lile, closed out his CCSA career as he earned the Most Outstanding Male Swimmer of the Championship award. He set the all-time record in the 50-yard freestyle in preliminaries with a time of 19.86 and went on to win the event in finals. The senior then set another all-time record in the 100-yard butterfly as he swam in 46.52. Lile also swam in the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ three relay victories in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
UMBC head coach Chad Cradock won Male Swimming Coach of the year, while Florida Atlantic’s diving coach Bryan Gillooly and Old Dominion’s Noah Sculley took home Male Diving Coach of the Year honors.
-@CCSA_Swim_Dive-
