Strong season continues for CUA as Cardinals sweep Drew

MADISON, N.J. – The Cardinals continued their impressive season on Saturday as CUA swept Drew in a Landmark Conference meet.  The men downed the Rangers 136-67 and the women came away with a 159-96 victory.  Individually, Annie Cannatella won two events and Caleb Capozella had a hand in three first-place finishes.

On the men’s side of things, Paul McGee took first in the 1000 free as he finished in 11:28.67, and Stephen Henderson won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.50.

Capozella (1:53.69) and Stephen Gill (1:57.88) went one-two in the 200 free, and that pair finished in the same order in the 100 butterfly.

Pat Flannery added nine points to the CUA total with a first place finish in the 200 butterfly (2:08.61), and the Cardinals took the top three spots in the 50 free with Dominic Grillo (23.02), Brian Jones (23.81) and Brendan Place (23.90) placing one-two-three. 

Jones and Grillo then went one-two in the 100 free, and Justin Kenyon, Henderson and Paul McGee claimed the first three spots in the 200 backstroke.  In the 500 free, Zach Hutton (5:25.42) and Brendan Reilly (5:44.82) placed first and second, respectively.

The 200 medley relay team of Stephen Gill, Evan Hundley, Dominic Grillo and Brendan Place earned 11 points for the Cardinals with a first place finish in 1:49.69, and the mixed 400 medley relay team of Caleb Capozella, Luke Miller, Pat Flannery and Brian Jones also won as they finished in 3:55.67.

In the women’s competition, Cannatella won the 1000 free with a time of 12:02.44 and Katherine Kelly did the same in the 100 breaststroke as she finished in 1:14.47.  Canatella added a second first place finish in the 500 free (5:49.22) as she placed in front of teammates Rachel Berry (5:55.43) and Melanie Rebechi (6:06.99).

Freshman Joanna Ladas won the 100 free in a time of 57.09 seconds and she placed second in the 100 butterfly (1:05.39) behind teammate and first-place finisher Gabby Giambagno (1:02.96).

Lisa Brooks (2:36.88) and Chelsea Hewitt (2:43.03) placed first and second, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke and Rose Buckley, Hewitt and Kelly went one-two-three in the 200 IM.

The women’s 200 freestyle relay team of Ashley Wilson, Rose Buckley, Melissa Gately and Shannon Silsby earned 11 CUA points as they defeated the Drew entry by a narrow margin (1:46.97 to 1:47.20).

CUA will be off next weekend before closing out its first semester schedule with a meet at Howard on Saturday, December 4.  VMI will also be in attendance as the action gets underway at 1:00.