​After last week’s gracious win over four other schools at the Fairfield Invite, Central Connecticut’s Swimming and Diving team continued their success back home, when they hosted Sacred Heart in a sweeping win.

There were 16 events, including diving, hosted at the Jack Suydam Natatorium in Kaiser Hall, 10 of which were won by the Central Swimming team. Along with placing in the top three in every single event, the team won with a final score of 183.5, and 116.5.

The majority of the 16 events were freestyle events, which happen to be a classic Central Swimming strength. Last Saturday, the freestyle events continued in full measure to be a good source of wins.

Strong performances from senior Erika Maercklein solidified the team’s success in the freestyle. She placed first in the 1000-yard freestyle event by a good 15 seconds faster than second place, which was occupied by one of her teammates, senior Keelin Kendall. Maercklein won first place again in the 500-yard freestyle event, beating second place by 10 seconds. Classmate Grace Fredericks came in third in the same event.

Sophomores Katie Czulewicz and Jeannette King continued the Blue Devils’ win streak by placing first and second respectively in a close 200-yard freestyle race. King won the 100-yard freestyle event while Czulewicz placed third. Czulewicz also placed second in the 50-yard freestyle, beating the third place by four-thousandths of a second.

Some events, like breaststroke, were swept by Central as they took home the top three prizes for both the 100 and 200-yard race. Sophomore Alex Lindgren won both of the breaststroke events for Central, followed closely each time by her fellow swimmers junior Katelyn Mann and senior Grace Regan.

Mann placed second in the 100-yard event under Lindgren and Regan placed third. Regan took the second place spot in the 200-yard breaststroke and freshman Abby Bacon took the third place spot.

Kaylin McMahon took over the backstroke events, securing the first place win in both the 100 and the 200-yard backstroke event.  McMahon is continuing her backstroke success from the Fairfield invite, when she placed first in the 200-yard event.

Junior Erin Brown came in second and third in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events, respectively, improving on her fourth place performance in the 200-yard event from the Fairfield invite.

When it came to the butterfly, Central still found success, but were faced with tough competition from Sacred Heart. Mann placed second in the 100-yard butterfly, with third place going to freshman Shannon Welcome. Welcome also took the second place spot in the 200-yard butterfly while McMahon took the fourth spot.

The team continued to show strong outings in the relay events. In past seasons, strong pairings of new and veteran talent held in place a strong standard for the relay events. The Blue Devils have continued success, most prominently mirrored by their performance last Saturday.

A team comprised of King, Mann and sophomores Hallie Perrin and Simona Visinksi, took first place in the 200-yard medley relay. Second place went to a team comprised of Welcome, Alex Lindgren, Erin Brown, and sophomore Destiny Johnson. Furthermore, in the 400-yard freestyle relay, a team comprised of Maercklein, Perrin, Czulewicz and King took first place while a team comprised of Fredericks, Regan, Welcome, and Visinksi placed third in the same race.

The Blue Devils grabbed three spots in the 200-yard individual medley event. Mann placed second, followed by Lindgren in third and Bacon in fourth.

The diving team added more points by being on the board and taking third place in both events. Kirsten Bednarz took that third spot in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter diving events, amassing scores of 157.28 and 156.53 points respectively. Reagan Kenney came in fourth with a total of 127.05 points, and fifth with a total of 123.15 points in the events respectively.

​With a majority of the events won, and McMahon, Maercklein, and Lindgren each taking two wins from the meet, Central has been competing at their best so far this semester. Winning efforts from McMahon and Lindgren in the breaststroke and backstroke events respectively were a backbone to Saturday’s success, while strong teams won all the relays and only one freestyle event was not won.

Central Swimming & Diving will next be in competition on Oct. 26 against New Hampshire.