BOSTON, Mass. (Feb. 18, 2011) – Saint Francis closed the gap between itself and meet frontrunner Central Connecticut State to just two points with a strong showing on the second day of the 2011 Northeast Conference Swimming & Diving Championships.

Central Connecticut State leads the event with a score of 492, just ahead of the Red Flash who've accumulated 490 points. Wagner (373), Bryant (296), Sacred Heart (212), Mount St. Mary's (180) and St. Francis (N.Y.) (123) round out the remainder of the seven team field.

The Red Flash started the day with a big win in the 200-yard medley relay. The SFU entry of Hanna Yttring (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelundsgymnasiet), Elise Löfgren (Molnlycke, Sweden/Hulebacks), Libby Francis (Dundee, Scotland/Grove Academy) and Alicia Ford (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point) not only bested the field but, with a time of 1:44.53, set a new NEC record in the procress.

It was the second league record set by a Flash relay team in two days, following in the wake of the 400 medley relay team which accomplished a similar feat on Thursday.

Yttring swam a 4:28.47 to earn silver in the 400 individual medley to claim 17 crucial points for SFU.

The Red Flash struck gold once again thanks to two more standout performances by Francis and Löfgren. 

Francis notched a time of 55.71 to claim her first individual win of the event in the 100 butterfly.  With a swim of 1:03.23 in the 100 breaststroke, Löfgren also clinched her first individual gold of the meet and nailed down a critical 20 team points.

Jenny Demjanenko, Yttring, Melissa Heintz (Boyertown, Pa./Oley Valley) and Megan Collins (Monroeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic) finished up the day with a bronze medal-winning effort in the 800 freestyle relay. The squad turned in a time of 7:40.52.

The third and final day of the championship meet goes down on Saturday. Events for the day will be the 1650 free, the 200 back, the 200 breast, the 200 fly and the 400-free relay. Preliminaries start at 11 a.m. and the finals will start at 7 p.m.