KINGSTON, Mass. -- Junior Richard Smith (Milford, Mass.) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships and four more school records fell as the Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team competed during day three of the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Division III Championships on Saturday at the University of Rhode Island.
Smith posted a time of 4:04.21 in the finals of the 400 individual medley as he placed second in the event and broke his own BSU school mark of 4:10.99 set earlier this season. Smith also bettered the NCAA DIII provisional qualifying time of 4:07.40 by more than three seconds.
Smith is the Bears' first provisional qualifier in a swimming event since Dave Cangiano (100 butterfly) in 1996.
Sophomore Jameson Rose (Somerset, Mass.) placed second in the 1,000 freestyle with a program record time of 9:54.56. Rose eclipsed Rich Sarson's 33-year old mark of 10:03.47 set back in 1984.
Freshman Dylon Willis (Attleboro, Mass.) finished second in the finals of the 100 breaststroke. In Saturday morning's preliminaries, Willis recorded a time of 58.98 seconds as he broke his own school mark of 59.97 seconds set earlier this season. Willis then re-broke the record with a time of 58.17 seconds in the finals.
Sophomore Alexander Belinsky (Norton, Mass.) rounded out the Bears' All-NEISDA performers with a seventh place finish in the finals of the 50 butterfly (24.41).
BSU's 200 medley relay squad featuring Rose, Willis, Smith and freshman Giulian Santos (Framingham, Mass.) set the program record with a finals time of 1:36.57. The foursome placed fifth in the event as they eclipsed the previous school mark of 1:36.79 set by Adam Budd, Mark Carvalho, Cangiano and Brad Henderson in 1998.
With one day remaining at the championship meet, the Bears have already set ten school records.
The four-day championship event continues on Sunday morning with the preliminary round getting underway at ten.