Central’s swimming and diving team came in second place at the Northeast Conference Championships with a score of 586 and were edged out by Bryant University, who scored 813.5 points.

Unlike past competitions, the Blue Devils faced Merrimack University and Saint Francis University in addition to their familiar foes.

Since there were nine schools competing, point distribution was expanded to the first 16 swimmers in each event, with the first place competitor earning 20 points for their team.

There were a total of 20 events throughout four days and Central won four gold medals out of 20. They remained in second place throughout the entire span of the competition.

Central earned their first gold medal during the second day of events. A team of Katie Czulewicz, Hallie Perrin, Jeannette King and Simona Visinksi won the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Czulewicz, Perrin, King and Visinksi also won the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Centrals’ third gold medal came in the form of a pure freestyle event as King took first place in the 50-yard freestyle.

The Blue Devils fourth and final first-place finish came when Alex Lindgren won the 200-yard breaststroke.

The 200-yard medley relay saw a team of Perrin, Mariana Espino, Katelyn Mann and King overtake Wagner, but fall less than two seconds away from Bryant. A team of Erika Maercklein, Shannon Welcome, Czulewicz and Visinksi took the second-place spot in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

The two remaining relay events each brought the last two competition days to an end with a fourth-place win in the 400-yard medley relay, with a team of King, Regan, Mann and Czuelwicz.

In the 500-yard freestyle event, four swimmers landed on the scoreboard. Gracie Regan finished eighth, followed by Czulewicz at nine, Welcome at eleven and Maercklein at thirteenth.

On the third day, Central took the second, third and eighth spots in the 200-yard freestyle event by Czulewicz, Visinksi and Maercklein respectively.

In the 100-yard freestyle on the fourth day, Central had three of the top six swimmers in the event. King placed second, followed by Visinksi in fourth and Czulewicz in sixth.

More success was waiting for the team in the backstroke events, with King and Perrin taking second and sixth place in the 100-yard backstroke.

Lindgren helped place the Blue Devils in the top five spots in both individual medley events. She and Mann took the fifth and sixth spots in the 200-yard IM, while she and Kendall took the fourth and seventh-place finish in the 400-yard IM.

The Central diving team helped tremendously with garnering points for the Blue Devils with their 1-meter diving bouts, in which Kirsten Bednarz and Rachel Pinsky tied for thirteenth place, allowing Central to take in 0.5 more than what the point reward was for that place, twice. This was an extra four points for the team along with an eighth-place finish by Reagan Kenney for another 11 points. In the 3-meter diving, Kenney and Pinsky scored eleventh and twelfth place respectively gaining 11 more points.

The swimming and diving competition was brought to a crescendo at the NEC Championships with a second-place overall finish for the Blue Devils and credence to their spectacular season so far.

Up next for the Central Swimming and Diving team are a few more championship events. The National Invitational Championship is scheduled for March 12-14 and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships are scheduled for March 18-21.