UB Swimmers Complete 2012 Metropolitan Conference Championships With A Total of 23 First Place Finishes

Piscataway, N.J.-The University of Bridgeport men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up a tremendously successful  2012 Metropolitan Conference Swimming and Diving Championships that were held in the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center on the campus of Rutgers University on Sunday night as they added seven more first place finishes to complete the three-day event with an impressive total of 23 event titles.  In the final team scores at the 2012 Metropolitan Conference Championships, the UB men took second place with 1204 points trailing only the College of New Jersey who won the event 1297 points, and the Bridgeport women captured fourth place with 908 points.  The College of New Jersey also won the women's event with a total of 1444 points  There were a total of 21 teams competing in this year's Metropolitan Conference Championship. 

On the men's side on Sunday, the Purple Knights won four individual events and one relay, and the UB women won two individual events.

Taking individual first place finishes for the Bridgeport men on Sunday were senior Davide Sitti (Castelnuovo Ramgone, Italy) in the 1650-yard Freestyle in a conference record and NCAA "B" Cut time of 15:54.53, sophomore, team captain Oscar Pereiro (Arzua, Spain) in the 100-yard Freestyle (44.73, NCAA "B" Cut), junior Ilkka Hanhineva (Pietarsaari, Finland) in the 200-yard Butterfly in an NCAA "A" Cut time of 1:47.63, plus sophomore Ruben Gimenez (Burgos, Spain) in the 200-yard Breaststroke (2:01.97, NCAA "B" Cut).

Other quality individual performances turned in by the UB men on Sunday came from freshman  Matheus Lima (Santos, Brazil) in the 200-yard Backstroke (second place, 1:49.80, NCAA "B" Cut), junior Krzysztof Wilk (Krakow, Poland) in the 100 Free (seventh place, 46.18, NCAA "B" Cut), junior Artur Pietrzak (Lenzo, Poland) in the 200 Fly (fourth place, 1:54.51, NCAA "B" Cut), and junior Vyacheslav Fattakhov (Almatt, Kazakhstan) was second in the 200-ayrd Breaststroke (2:02.37) plus sophomore Alejandro Roberto (Badajoz, Canary Islands, Spain) was sixth in the same event (2:11.67).

The Bridgeport men wrapped up the 2012 Metropolitan Conference Swimming Championship in fine style winning the 400-yard Free Relay (Gimenez, Wilk, Lima and Periro) in an NCAA "A" Cut plus poll and confernce record time of 2:59.08.   The Bridgeport men now hold four of five pool relay records at Rutgers.

For the UB women, sophomore Maria Trubitsyna (Moscow, Russia) won two individual events in NCAA "A" Cut times.  Maria won the 1650-yard Free in a confernce record time of 16:50.54, and she captured the 200-yard Butterfly in a time of 2:02.44.

Also turning in fine performances for the Bridgeport women on Sunday were senior captain Patrycja Zera (Zabki, Poland) in the 200-yard Backstroke (third place, 2:08.98), junior Anna Krasnowska (Kedzierzyn-Kozie, Poland) in the 100 Free (fifth place, 53.11), sophomore Ilka Oberle (Schwanau, Germany) turned in an NCAA "B" Cut finishing second in the 200-yard Breaststroke (2:21.68) and freshman Mona Hagelstein (Hamburg, Germany) was fourth in the 200 Fly (2:12.71).

The women's 400-yard Free Relay team of freshman Alina Sotnikova (Riga, Latvia), Trubitsyna, Krasnowka and freshman Alja Tavcar (Ljublijana, Slovenia) took second place in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 3:30.83.

Nridgeport also brought home three major awards following the completition of the 2012 Metropolitan Conference Swimming Championships, as Maria Trubitsyna was named Women's Rookie of the Meet, Oscar Pereiro was selected Men's Swimmer of the Meet and head coach Brad Flood was chosen as Men's Coach of the Year.

Both Purple Knights teams will now await word on how many swimmers will take part in the 2012 NCAA Division II National Championship that will be held in Mansfield, Texas from March 14-17.