Mary Washington Women's Swimming Wins 28th Consecutive CAC Championship; Frostburg State's Macey Nitchie Repeats as Swimmer of the Year
The Mary Washington women's swimming kept its record winning streak at the CAC Championships intact on Sunday at St. Mary's, compiling 913 points to claim its 28th consecutive title. The Eagles are the only team have ever won the title in the 28-year history of the CAC, the only team across all conference sports to hold such a streak.
UMW won gold in 10 of 19 events on its way to the title. York was just less than 100 points behind in second place at 815 points, making for the closest second-place finish in the history of the CAC Championship meet. Frostburg State recorded its highest-ever placing in the team standings in third place with 401 points, followed by St. Mary's (365), Marymount (345), and Salisbury (254).
Frostburg State's Macey Nitchie repeated as Swimmer of the Year after sweeping the sprint freestyle events for the second straight year. Nitchie won the 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 51.77. She is the eighth swimmer in CAC history to receive the award multiple times throughout their career.
UMW head coach Abby Brethauer was tabbed as Coach of the Year, earning the award for the sixth time.
UMW's Claudia Keller was selected as Rookie of the Year, becoming the 16th UMW swimmer to receive Rookie of the Year honors. Keller won a pair of distance freestyle events for the Eagles, taking gold in the 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyle on Sunday.
Megan Murphy won a pair of events on Sunday for UMW, touching first in the 100 IM (59.14) and 2:07.37. Murphy totaled six golds throughout the meet, three individually and three on relays.
Frostburg State's Maddie Weinberger picked up her second gold medal in the breaststroke events during Sunday's finals, taking the 200 breaststroke in 2:24.85.
York's Justine Wantz also claimed her second individual gold of the meet on Sunday. Wantz won the 200 backstroke in 2:05.24.
The York 400 freestyle relay team of Adrianna Ayala, Rachel Spaulding, Andrew Sturgis, and Danielle Werner closed out the meet with a victory in 3:32.25 for the Spartans.