The time of the year has come for Central Connecticut’s swimming and diving team to put their months of competition to the test when they took on the Northeast Conference Championships this past week.

But Central was unable to top the Bryant Bulldogs, who claimed the NEC Championship for the second straight season. The Blue Devils were, however, able to top the other seven schools in the conference.

Central won three events and placed in the top five in 15 events out of the 20. This garnered them 600 points, placing them just behind Bryant’s 863.5 points.

Per usual, the backstroke events fared well with Central as senior Kaitlyn Troy and junior Alexis Fredericks placed first and fourth in the 100-yard variation, respectively, while junior Grace Fredericks and senior Aidan Devers claimed the third and fourth spots in the 200-yard. Devers and Alexis Fredericks each competed in the taxing individual medley with Devers placing second in the 400-yard while Fredericks placed seventh in the 200-yard.

The Blue Devils performed well in the relay events, continuing the prior success against LIU Brooklyn and Rhode Island, where they consistently placed in the top two spots. Devers continued her efforts as she helped her relay team of freshman Katie Czulewicz, junior Erika Maercklein and freshman Simona Visinski place third in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the longest relay in the four-day championship.

Troy was an asset to the other four winning relay teams as her, freshman Mariana Espino, sophomore Katelyn Mann and freshman Jeannette King claimed the second place spot in the 200-yard medley relay. And Troy, with King, Visinski and freshman Destiny Johnson placed second in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Visinski and Troy, along with King, and Czulewicz also placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay and were joined by Espino and junior Valentina Gomez to win the 400-yard medley relay, an event which Central has consistently won in their past two meets.

Devers, Gomez and Maercklein took up the fifth through seventh spots in the 500-yard freestyle event. The freestyle races were abundant and tightly knit during this year’s meet, but Central managed to crack top five in all of them. Visinksi and Czulewicz placed fourth and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle event, respectively, while Visinski and King placed fourth and second in the 100-yard event.

King tied Bryant with a time of 50.86 seconds in the event but managed to end Central’s long absence from the 50-yard freestyle leaderboard by placing third.

Junior Keelin Kendall was faced with the monumental task of competing in the very long 1650-yard freestyle, in which she placed ninth out of 20 competitors.

Gomez claimed third in the 100-yard butterfly and won the 200-yard butterfly, following her strengths and garnering much needed points for the Blue Devils. Espino tied for fifth with Wagner in the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:04:40. Freshman Alex Lindgren placed sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke, followed by Mann in eighth, securing places in the A-final.

After this season, the Blue Devils will say goodbye to Troy, Devers and Gomez, who each have added a lot to the team’s success in the past four years, now including another strong finish at the NECs.