March 2, 2008
WASHINGTON - In their final day of competition as Eagles, American University men's and women's swimming and diving seniors Meghan Thiel and Joe Coronato placed first and second in their respective events on the final day of the East Coast Athletic Conference Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool.
Thiel, a distance freestyle specialist, placed first in the women's 1650 free. Thiel entered the event seeded first with a season best time of 16:41.50. In the final, Thiel topped that time by nearly two seconds en route to her second championship of the weekend. Thiel swam a 16:39.60 in the final and finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of Seton Hall's Michelle Ducharme who clocked in at 16:58.31.
On Friday, Thiel captured the first ECAC Championship of her career when she won the 500 free in a time of 4:53.07. Thiel also competed in the 200 free on Saturday where she placed third in 1:52.22.
Coronato, a sprint freestyle specialist, placed second in the men's 100 free. Coronato advanced to the "A" final with a second-place finishing time of 46.36 in Sunday morning's prelim. In the final, Coronato again swam to a second-place finish, this time clocking in at 46.26. St. Peter's Michailas Zuravliovas won the event in a time of 45.52.
Coronato's second-place finish on Sunday marked his highest placement of the meet. On Friday, Coronato competed in the 50 free and placed fifth in 21.29 while on Saturday he swam a 1:41.49 to place ninth in the 200 free.
Overall, the women's team finished in 17th place out of 25 teams with 56 points while the men's team finished in 18th place out of 25 teams with 40 points. Both Thiel and Coronato were the only swimmers competing for AU at the ECAC Championships
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