BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's and men's swim teams wrapped up their regular seasons Friday evening with dual-meet losses to Little East Conference opponent Bridgewater State University at Dr. Mary Jo Moriarty Pool.

The Bridgewater women (4-6) defeated Eastern (7-2), 117-114 in a competition which was not decided until the final relay, while the Bridgewater men (4-5) downed Eastern (5-2), 118-87.

Friday's regular-season finale leads into a two-week period of training for Eastern, which concludes its season Feb. 16-18 at the Little East Conference Championships at the Boston Sports Institute at Wellesley, Mass. The championship is the 22^nd one for the women and the third for the men, who are in their fifth intercollegiate season. (There was no championship in 2021 due to Covid.)

Dual meet losses to Bridgewater State and Keene State College are the only dual-meet setback this year for either the Eastern men or women and come against the teams which finished 1-2 in last year's LEC men's and women's championships. The Keene women won their 19th conference title (16^th straight) last year by 100-plus points over Bridgewater. The Bridgewater men have won both LEC championships contested, last year with a 100-plus point advantage over Keene State.

Trailing by 12 points Friday, the Eastern women needed to sweep the top two places in the final meet of the evening – the 200 freestyle relay – in order to emerge with a one-point win. The Warriors won the relay but the Bears salvaged the victory by taking second place in a time of 1:47.51 over the Warriors' second relay (1:49.06).

In swimming events, the Eastern women won rather handily, but the Bears collected 26 points in one and three-meter diving when they competed unopposed against a team which does not sponsor diving.

Against Bridgewater, the Warriors captured both relays and got first-place finishers in individual events from four swimmers: seniors Lindsay Weaver (Newington) and Maya Brody (East Granby), junior Allison Ronan (Northbridge, MA) and first-year swimmer Ava Wheeler (Morris). Weaver won the 200 butterfly (2:21.22), Brody the 100 freestyle (57.19), Ronin the 200 individual medley (57.19) and Wheeler the 500 freestyle (5:50.82). Sophomore Natasha Frisch (Mendota Heights, MN), who has Eastern's best times in all three breaststroke distances this year, did not compete.
 
For the men, junior Connor Rego (Winsted) won the 200 IM (2:06.47) and 200 butterfly (2:05.33) and first-year swimmer Nico Iannucci (Parsippany, NJ) was the 200 breaststroke champion in a time of 2:15.63.

Bridgewater's sub-.500 men's and women's dual meet records entering Friday's meet against Eastern were deceiving based upon stiff schedules, with both BSU teams losing only to private schools in dual-meet competition this year. In addition, both Bridgewater teams were untested in capturing their own invitationals. The BSU's women's seven-team invitational field included LEC squads Rhode Island College, Plymouth State University and Massachusetts Dartmouth while the men downed Plymouth State by nearly 400 points in their three-team field.

During the regular season, both BSU squads also defeated Keene State in a January 20 dual meet, the men by a score of 152-125 and the women by 158-139.

In addition to their dual-meet schedule this year, Eastern also participated in the season-opening University of Saint Joseph Blue Jay Pentathlon Oct. 20 and at the ultra-competitive Connecticut Cup Dec. 1-2 at Wesleyan University that closed the first semester. It marked the tenth time in the last 15 non-Covid years that the women have lost either one or two dual meets.

Based upon their encouraging Jan. 13 performances this year against Keene State – the women losing by only eight and the men by 18 – both Eastern teams are preparing for a run at one of the top two finishes in the upcoming LEC Championships. Without a diving team, Eastern gave away crucial points in the one and three-meter diving events in the Jan.13 meet , where Keene competed unopposed and garnered all of the available points.

The women have finished third or better in 14 of the last 18 LEC Championships. The team finished second for nine straight years (2009-17) under former head coach Maureen Fahey and has placed third each of the last two years under current fifth-year head coach Sarit Gluz. The official men's championship was instituted in 2022 after Covid wiped out the planned first championship in 20021. The Eastern men placed fourth in an LEC "invitational" in 2020 and have taken third place in both of the first official championships the last two years.

Experienced Eastern teams feature a total of 15 seniors – 11 on the women's side and four on the men's roster – who will lead the Warriors into the championships in two weeks. Prior to Friday's meet, the Eastern women had the top times in the LEC rankings in three individual and two relay events while Keene held the No. 1 time in ten individual events and three relays, the University of New England in three individual events and Rhode Island College in two individual events.

Weaver, Eastern's third-highest scorer in last year's championships who finished second twice and third once, has the top time so far in the LEC in the 100 and 200 butterfly, while Frisch leads all competitors with the best time in the 50 breaststroke. In her first year last season, Frisch was third in two butterfly events. Eastern's 200 and 400 medley relays also feature the top performances this year in the LEC.

Weaver was Eastern's top seed in five LEC events prior to Friday, with Ronan the Eastern leader in four events and Frisch, Brody and Ava Wheeler in three each. Despite missing the majority of last year while rehabilitating an injury, Brody won all three of her individual events in last year's LEC Championships (50 and 100 freestyle and 50 butterfly in a record-setting time) while Ronan claimed the 50 backstroke. Ronan, Frisch, Weaver and Brody also teamed to win the 200 medley relay in record-setting fashion.

For the men,  Iannucci currently has the top times in the LEC in all three breaststroke distances and in the 100 individual medley, while Rego and  fellow junior Joseph Sylvester (Morris) have posted the best current times in the LEC in the 200 IM and the 500 freestyle, respectively. Bridgewater leads LEC competitors with the best times in eight individual events and four relay while Keene State leads in four individual events and the remaining relay.

Of 18 individual events, Sylvester and Iannucci are Eastern's top seed in five each, Rego in four, junior Ben D'Addario (Fairfield) in three and senior Nathan Melia (Manchester) in one.   

First and second-place finishers in the championships in individual and relay events are accorded first and second-team All-LEC honors, respectively. Last year, Rego was a three-time All-LEC qualifier with two firsts and one second while D'Addario and current sophomore Sam Hurlburt (Meriden) each netted second-team honors twice, with the 200 medley relay of Melia, Hurlburt, Rego and D'Addario earning first-team honors with a first-place finish and the 400 medley relay of Sylvester, Hurlburt, Rego and D'Addario qualifying as second-team All-LEC by finishing second.