Feb. 23, 2008

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - Less than nine hours after they shattered the school record in the 200 yard freestyle relay, the Highlander women were back in the pool.

A change in the order of the 200 yard freestyle relay had freshman Sadie Mele leading off, followed by Bonnie Fiallo, Teresa Higgins and Karen Cilento. The new line up provided the desired results as the Highlanders moved up in the overall standings to 10th place and reset their record improving from 1:51.23 to 1:49.51.

"This was another great swim. They came back tonight and improved their overall time with a team effort; each woman swam a faster time than they did in the morning. Their competitiveness allowed them to move up a place and score a few more points than we had anticipated." Said head coach Eric Rasmussen.

Next up for the Highlanders was the 50 yard freestyle. Earlier in the day, Cilento had just missed the NJIT record; the oldest record at the school. In the finals, Cilento was able to surpass the record with her 18th place finish with a time of 25.53 taking down the former record of 25.62 set by Stephanie Dubyna on November 10, 2000. Also picking up points for the highlanders was Sadie Mele who finished 24th.

In the final event of the evening, the 400 yard medley relay, the squad of Mele, Cilento, Fiallo and Higgins improved upon their morning swim and dropped their time to 4:41.86. The effort earned them the 12th place spot; an improvement of two places over their preliminary qualifying position.

The men also enjoyed some improvements in the evening's finals. In the 200 yard freestyle relay the foursome of Steve Schreyer, Sean Stafford, James Paccioretti and Hayk Ekshian improved their time to 1:31.37 and earned a 12th place finish.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Ekshian finished in 14th place.

The 400 yard medley relay also dropped their time to a 3:55.00 and picked up the 12th place spot. That relay included Mike Finley, Mike Lawson, Ekshian and Paccioretti.

"We are continuing to swim very well. We saw some time improvements tonight and that is always a good thing. Our women are doing outstanding; for a while tonight they rose to 10th place. That may be the highest we have gotten in the last few years. I think we are going to have a couple more great days. I expect that we will see numerous more school records fall before this meet is over." Said head coach Eric Rasmussen

The Highlanders return to action on Sunday for the final day of competition.

(description courtesy head coach Eric Rasmussen)