New School Records Mark End of Swimming and Diving Season

The 2021-22 swimming and diving season ended Feb. 27, 2022, with many new school records and personal bests recorded.

Eastern College Athletic Conference Open Championships, Feb. 26-27

The VMI men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out the season Feb. 26-27 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Open Championships, hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Connor Doyle ’23 finished 10th in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:53.97 in preliminaries, while Conner Jorgensen ’23 took 16th in 1:57.67. Chino Vera ’24 was 17th in the 100-meter freestyle with a top time of 46.27, while Dalton Cosner ’24 finished the 200-meter butterfly in 1:57.37 to take 19th. The Keydet 400-meter freestyle relay team of Cosner, Doyle, Collin Marks ’24, and Vera finished seventh in 3:07.04, with Cosner leading off with a personal best time of 47.23.

The men’s 200 medley relay team broke the program record Feb. 26 in 1:32.94 to take 10th. Vera set a personal record in the 50-meter backstroke leading off the relay and was joined by Chase Lane ’24, Tyler Blackwell ’24, and Cosner. Lane set a new VMI record with a time of 56.30 in the 100-meter breaststroke preliminaries and finished 15th. Vera also finished 15th in the 100-meter backstroke in 52.45 after swimming a 51.48 in the preliminaries. Bridger Thurston ’23 scored 202.40 points in the 3-meter dive to take seventh.

Ethan Griffith ’25 placed 13th in the 400-meter individual medley in a season-best 4:06.01, while Ryan Cooper ’22 had a season-best 4:11.84 in the event to place 17th. Doyle was 17th in the 200-meter freestyle in 1:43.21. The 800-meter freestyle relay team of Cooper, Jorgensen, Sam Chopper ’25, and Griffith placed sixth in 7:04.63, with Cooper’s 1:47.24 in the opening leg setting a personal best.

The women’s 200-meter medley relay team of Isabella DeCosta ’23, Anne Bowles ’24, Jillian Maher ’24, and Kate Taylor ’24 finished 12th in the finals in 1:52.82. London Yerasimides ’23 finished in the 1-meter dive with a score of 177.75.

America East Conference Championships, Feb. 10-13

The swimming and diving teams wrapped up competition at the four-day 2022 America East Conference Championships, held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Chopper swam a 16:43.17 in the 1650-meter freestyle to take ninth place. Doyle finished the 200-meter backstroke in 1:53.44 to finish 10th, while Jorgensen was 13th overall and was clocked at 1:56.79 in the preliminaries. Vera swam 46.27 in the 100-meter freestyle to take 12th, and Marks also scored in the event, finishing 16th with a preliminary time of 47.89. Jack Sheehan ’23 (11th – 2:05.65), Lane (12th – 2:07.75 in the prelims) and Griffith (13th – 2:09.21) finished back-to-back-to-back in the 200-meter breaststroke to add points for the Keydets.

Cosner, Doyle, Sheehan, and Vera teamed up to swim a 3:06.38 in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

Bowles finished 15th in the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:33.66, while Ruki Sarkari ’24 paced VMI in the women’s 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:17.10 in the preliminaries. Maher finished the 100-meter freestyle in 55.53, and Rachel Greathouse ’25 swam the 200-meter butterflies in 2:19 even.

The 400-meter freestyle relay team of Taylor, Carter Wasser ’25, DeCosta, and Maher finished in 3:45.38.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at vmikeydets.com.