Two AU Swimmers Head to ECAC Championships

Feb. 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - American University men's and women's swimming and diving seniors Joe Coronato and Meghan Thiel will compete in the East Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend, Feb. 29 to March 2, at Trees Pool on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

Coronato will compete in the 50 free on Friday, the 200 free on Saturday and the 100 free on Sunday. Conronato competed in the same three events at last weekend's PL Swimming and diving championships, placing eighth, fourth and fourth, respectively. Coronato recorded new personal records in each event at the meet and moved to eighth on AU's all-time 50 free list with a prelim time of 21.20 and into a tie for fifth on AU's all-time 100 free list with a 45.87 finals time. Coronato's new 200 free PR set last weekend was a 1:41.43.

Thiel will be competing in three events in which she has won a combined eight PL Championships, the 500 free on Friday, the 200 free on Saturday and the 1650 free on Sunday. Thiel, like Coronato, also swam each of these three events at last week's conference meet and placed third in the 500, fourth in the 200 and second in the 1650.

The ECAC Championships will be the last opportunity for Coronato and Thiel to qualify for the NCAA Championships. To automatically qualify a swimmer must achieve an 'A' Standard time, which neither has done. Thiel qualified for the NCAA Championships as a sophomore in both the 500 free and 1650, becoming AU's first female swimmer to do so, but did not return last year. Coronato has yet to qualify for the NCAA meet in his career. To view a complete list of the qualifying standards, click here.

Live results from the ECAC's as well as the psych sheet are be available on Pittsburgh's athletics website. To view the meet in real time or to view the psych sheet, click here.