Cardinals wrap up busy weekend of action vs. Colonials and AU

WASHINGTON – The Cardinals wrapped up a busy opening weekend of racing on Saturday, taking on Division I schools George Washington and American in an unscored tri-meet.  Leading the way for the Cardinal men was Justin Kenyon, who came in fourth in the 1650 free, while Mell Rebechi (400 IM) and Joanna Ladas (1650 free) both posted third place finishes.

In women’s action, Rebechi finished third in the 400 IM, with a time of 5:17.54, while Rachel Berry (1:04) and Gabrielle Giambagno (1:05.38) placed fifth and ninth, respectively, in the 100 butterfly.  Berry later added a sixth place finish in the 200 butterfly.

Ladas notched a third place finish in the 1650 free (18:35.67) and a fourth place finish in the 200 free, posting a time of 2:00.67.  Julia Wisler came in 11th in the 200 free with a time of 2:04.75, she finished fifth in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:05.07, and she placed seventh in the 100 free (55.97). 

Nicole Digiacinto finished in 12th place in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.95, and later, she and Kristen Gunn came in fifth and sixth place, respectively, in the 200 backstroke.

Ali Taylor came in ninth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:17.03 and Katherine Kelly was right behind her in tenth place, finishing in 1:17.30.  Kelly also finished eighth in the 200 breaststroke, while Chelsea Hewitt came in seventh in the same event.

On the men’s side, Kenyon registered a fourth place finish in the 1650 free, touching in a time of 17:58.38.  Josh Cutter and Zack Hutton placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the same event.

Dominic Grillo finished 11th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.93, and 11th in the 100 free (50.79).  Stephen Gill (13), Brendan Reilly (15), Stephen Henderson (18) and Brendan Place (20) also posted top-20 finishes in the 100 free.

Caleb Capozella came in eighth place in the 100 backstroke in 56.30 seconds.  Capozella later added a tenth place finish in the 200 backstroke.

In the 200 free, CUA placed swimmers in 13th through 16th place, which included Reilly, Josh Cutter, Chris Ledonne and Zack Hutton.

CUA is now off until October 28 when the Cardinals host St. Mary’s inside the DuFour Center at 5 p.m.  The next day CUA will travel to Goucher for its first conference meet of the season.  Action that day will begin at 1.