CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 2, 2013) – After watching its lead trimmed to as few as nine points earlier in the evening, the Saint Francis University women's swimming team put forth a golden effort to hold on to its lead and win its fourth consecutive NEC Swimming & Diving Championship.

The Red Flash scored 732.5 points over the course of four days to hoist the championship trophy once again and join Gardner-Webb as the only other program in league history to do so in four consecutive years.

Wagner scored 715 points to place second, while Bryant rounded out the top three with 669.5 points. Central Connecticut was fourth with 648, Mount St. Mary's fifth with 263, Sacred Heart sixth with 169 and St. Francis Brooklyn 142.

Saint Francis' Elise Löfgren earned a share of the Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet trophy, the first swimmer to do so, as she Bryant's Casey Ostrander and Wagner's Amanda Lucia and each captured two individual titles and scored 57 points.

In the longest race of the meet, the 1650 freestyle, freshman Haley Fournier (Ave Maria, Fla./Palmetto Ridge) of Saint Francis U earned the gold medal after swimming to a time of 16:55.95. She was the only swimmer to break 17 minutes on the night. Her teammate and 2012 champion Megan Collins (Monroeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic) placed second with a time of 17:06.26.

A one-hundredth of a second separated first place from second place in the 100 freestyle, as Wagner's Sarah Mendendez just touched out Saint Francis' Alicia Ford (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point) with a time of 51.05. Ford, the defending champion, took the silver in 51.06. The Red Flash's Danyel Johnson (Dansville, N.Y./Dansville) finished third in 51.27.

The 200 breaststroke came down to the final 15 yards, as Bryant's Molly Smith was able to pass Löfgren and swim to a winning time of 2:19.23 Löfgren led for most of the race but touched just after in 2:20.09, and her teammate Catherine Rogers (Nokesville, Va./Seton School) was third in 2:21.31.

In the meet's final two events, Libby Francis (Dundee, Scotland/Grove Academy) placed third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.74 and the Red Flash's team of Johnson, Löfgren, Rogers and Ford were third in 2:17.15 to secure their overall win.


Final Team Results
1. Saint Francis U - 732.5
2. Wagner - 715
3. Bryant - 669.5
4. Central Connecticut - 648
5. Mount St. Mary's - 263
6. Sacred Heart - 169
7. St. Francis Brooklyn – 143


Saint Francis Event Championships
200 MR – Peer, Rogers, Francis, Johnson – 1:42.79*
200 IM – E. Löfgren – 2:04.15
100 Fly – L. Francis – 56.11
100 Breast – E. Löfgren – 1:03.77
400 MR – Johnson, Löfgren, Francis, Ford – 3:47.56
1650 Free – H. Fournier – 16:55.95
*Denotes NEC record