Just keep swimming and winning

Pat Longobardi, Sports Writer
Southern Connecticut State University had a great start, leading both the men and women’s standings at the end of day one of the 2011 Northeast-10 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at Hutchinson Natatorium in New Haven.
The weekend spanned from Friday, Feb. 4 through Sunday, Feb. 6. Preliminaries began at 10 a.m., the diving events began at 2 p.m. and the finals went off at 6 p.m.
Southern and Bentley University are the defending Northeast-10 Conference Swimming & Diving champions.
Southern began the day winning the women’s one-meter and the men’s three-meter diving competitions. Lauren Sasso (375.75) won the women’s event. Bentley’s Shelly D’Aleo came in second. Chad Snyder (438.35) won for the men. Bentley’s Mike Walsh was second.
Southern continued their dominance at night, winning the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.95), behind Jennifer O’Neil, Nicole Caron, Sarah Thompson and Anna Pleban. Le Moyne was second by .16 seconds. Le Moyne won the men’s 200 freestyle relay (1:25.57), behind Scott Thieke, Drew Acquaviva, Tyler Olson and Sean Hosford. Le Moyne broke the men’s conference record, previously held by Southern. Southern came in second (1:26.04) behind Austin Mizzell, Andrew Garrity, Miguel Nesrala, and Matt Sorena.
Assumption’s Monique Haney won the women’s 500-yard freestyle (5:04.82). Jenna Wood, of Pace, finished second. Nicole Huerta, of Southern, finished third. Southern’s Matt Sorena won the men’s 500 freestyle (4:36.01). Kyle Wilson, of Saint Rose, came in second, by over seven seconds. Domenick Errico, from Southern, came in third.
Southern’s Amanda Thomas won the women’s 200 Individual Medley (2:02.50). Katie O’Donnell, Le Moyne, came in second. Vadim Yafayev, Saint Rose, won the men’s 200 Individual Medley (1:53.18). Southern’s Oscar Castillo was second.
Jennifer O’Neil, Southern, won her second event of the night, winning the women’s 50-meter freestyle (24.32). Eileen Mullowney, Saint Michael’s, finished second. Southern’s Miguel Nesrala won the men’s 50 freestyle (21.21). Drew Acquaviva, Le Moyne, was second.
Southern ended the night, winning both the women’s and men’s 400-meter Medley relay. Southern (3:54.91) won behind Amanda Thomas, Jennifer O’Neil, Anna Pleban and Nicole Huerta. Bentley, finished second. Southern men (3:25.64) won behind Oscar Castillo, Austin Mizzell, Matt Sorena and Miguel Nesrala. Adelphi was second.
Southern women ended day one with 317 points. Bentley came in second (218), and Le Moyne came in third (150). Southern men ended the day with 269 points. Bentley came in second (178), and Le Moyne came in third (168).
There were 12 events on Friday, 15 events on Saturday and 11 events on Sunday.
Southern won their final meet of the regular season on Jan. 25 by defeating Queens College, 134-71.
After Sunday’s final event, the Men’s team took home the NE-10 championship for the seventh time in the last eight years.  The Women’s team also took home their eighth straight NE-10 Championship.
Southern will next look to the Metropolitan Conference Championships in Piscataway, N.J. on Feb.18 through Feb. 20.