ECU Athletic Media Relations

ATLANTA – The East Carolina women’s swimming and diving team finished day one of the 2014 Conference USA Championships Wednesday tied with Western Kentucky for second-place with 80 points. Defending C-USA Champion Rice holds the lead with 96 points after sweeping the first night of events at the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center.

ECU’s pursuit of its second league title opened with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley. The Pirates, represented by senior Anna Gibas, sophomore Megan Sellers, sophomore Anastasia Amoiroglou and freshman Tori Angermeier, clocked in with a time of 1:39.61, 0:00.28 behind Rice (1:39.33). Newcomer Western Kentucky came in third (1:41.07).

The ECU foursome of sophomore Lauren Baker, junior Lauren Gray, junior Lauren Chew and freshman Anna Maria Svanbergsson finished fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The squad swam the event in a time of 17:20.03, missing the podium by 0:02.56. Rice earned top honors in the race with an NCAA B provisional time of 7:12.29, followed by FIU (7:13.43) and Western Kentucky (7:17.59).

On the men’s side, the Pirates stand in fourth-place with 82 points. Western Kentucky leads the way with 126 points followed by Old Dominion (114) and Florida Atlantic (113).

East Carolina won the 800-yard freestyle as sophomore Michael Dugan, junior Nikola Simic, freshman Fran Krznaric and sophomore Julien Dodu touched the wall in 6:32.10.

Freshman Will Beliveau earned the Pirates some valuable points with a fifth-place finish in the 1-meter springboard competition tallying 242.75 points. Sophomore Alex Clark placed seventh with a score of 235.25 points.