Women's Swimming
at Roger Williams U. 231, Eastern Conn. 90
 
Men's Swimming
at Roger Williams U. 262, Eastern Conn. 52
 
BRISTOL, R.I. – Two of the top Division III teams in New England, the Roger Williams University women's and men's teams won 27 of 28 individual and relay events in sweeping Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon amidst their Senior Day activities at the RWU Aquatic Center.
 
While the Roger Williams women (2-4) and men (4-2) were coming off a week without competition, the Eastern women (5-3) and men (4-2) were back in the pool Saturday 18 hours after sweeping the University of Saint Joseph on the road Friday evening.
 
The Eastern men and women close out the regular season Feb. 5 hosting Bridgewater State University and Gordon College on Senior Day before wrapping up the season at the Little East Conference Championships Feb. 20-22 at the Boston Sports Institute.
 
Women
 
Sophomores Maya Brody (East Granby) and Lindsay Weaver (Newington), senior Kerry-Rose Buchanan (Southington) and first-year swimmer Allison Ronan (Northbridge, MA) combined for more than half (50) of Eastern's points, with 16 swimmers in all contributing points. In addition to their points in individual events, Ronan, Brody and Buchanan also swam a leg of the second-place 200 freestyle relay.
 
In the 100 butterfly, Weaver posted the only victory for Eastern with a time of 1:04.32 in besting RWU's Brenna Guilmette by nearly three seconds. Weaver also picked up four points with a third-place finish in the 50 butterfly (28.96) and another point with a sixth-place finish in the 100 freestyle (1:02.28) for 14 points.
 
Brody, who returned to competition Friday night for the first time since the opening weekend, matched Weaver with 14 points, with Buchanan adding 12 and Ronan ten.
 
Brody was second in the 50 backstroke (31.09) and 50 butterfly (28.45) Saturday for a total of ten points and collected four more by taking third in the 100 freestyle (58.84). Buchanan was second in the 500 freestyle (5:44.88), third in the 50 freestyle (26.86) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:07.91).  Ronan was second in the 100 backstroke (1:05.97), fourth in the 400 individual medley (5:16.93) and fifth in the 200 freestyle (2:10.72).
 
Eastern competed in the meet without its top butterflier, sophomore tri-captain Nancy Scanlon (West Hartford).
 
Roger Williams, which has proven itself as a contender each year for the NEISDA championship (the Hawks won it the last year it was held in 2019-20), went 1-2-3 in three events Saturday and claimed the top two spots a total of seven times.
 
Men
 
While Friday's victory over Saint Joseph showed how far the third-year program has come – the Warriors edging the Blue Jays after having been routed by USJ in 2019-20 and having finished behind it in two invitationals earlier this season – Saturday's outcome illustrated how far they have to go (Eastern's fatigue factor Saturday notwithstanding).
 
Roger Williams, the 2019-20 NEISDA men's champion, manhandled the Warriors by commanding the top four spots in the first four individual events of the meet and went at least 1-2-3 in ten of 12 individual events.
 
In a team effort that outlined the team's talented youth, all nine active swimmers chipped in at least one point, with first-year swimmers Joseph Sylvester (Morris), Jae Pinilla-O'Dea (Madison) and Ben D'Addario (Fairfield) sharing the team lead with seven each, with first-year swimmer Connor Rego (Winsted) and sophomore Drew Cavar (Vernon) right behind with six each. Pinilla-O'Dea, Scully and Rego also swam a leg of the opening 400 medley relay which was credited with two points despite finishing third (last).
 
Sylvester, who broke two backstroke and one distance freestyle record Friday night, swam three different events Saturday.  He was second in the 500 freestyle (5:18.11) – a record he holds at 5:13.14 – and fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:57.33) and swam a leg of the 200 freestyle relay; Pinilla-O'Dea was third in the 100 backstroke (1:04.76), fifth in the 50 backstroke (30.53) and sixth in the 50 butterfly (28.00); D'Addario was fourth in the 50 freestyle (23.63) – just off his program record of 23.19 – and fifth in the 100 freestyle (52.75) and fifth in the 50 butterfly (26.14); Rego's six points came with fourth-place finishes in the 100 freestyle (52.67) and 50 butterfly (26.06), the latter just a half-second off of D'Addario's program record; Cavar earned his six points with three fifth-place-30- finishes in the 500 (5:40.95) and 1000 freestyle (11:46.50) and 100 butterfly (1:05.63).
 
Sylvester's second-place finish in the 500 freestyle and Pinilla-O'Dea's third-place showing in the 100 backstroke were the team's highest finishes on the afternoon.