WORCESTER, Mass. — At the conclusion of Saturday morning's preliminaries in the 100-yard butterfly,
Michal Liberman had the fastest time in the field.
She did not disappoint in the event finals.
The graduate student clocked in with a blazing time of 54.24 seconds, lowering her own school record while claiming the victory.
The win marked the first individual title for Stony Brook since Renee Deschenes won the 100 backstroke in 2011.
"I feel like I gained my confidence back and that all my hard work paid off," said Liberman, who was profiled on CBS New York this weekend. "I really wanted to win this event for Stony Brook and bring honor to the program."
The Rosh Haayin, Israel, native was out in front from the get-go, eventually securing the win with a 1.28 second buffer.
Along with Liberman,
Maddy Enda also qualified for the 'A' final in the same event. Enda touched the wall in 56.47, which was good for sixth.
Liberman wasn't done after that, she also placed fourth later in the evening in the 100 backstroke at 56.62.
In the 100 breaststroke, the Seawolves packed in four swimmers in the event's 'B' final.
Jessica Salmon led the way, tying for 10th with a time of 1:06.64.
Melissa Mungroo was 13th (1:06.94),
Sara Chin finished 15th (1:07.65) and
Ava DeMayo placed 16th (1:07.80).
Stony Brook's
Reagan MacDonald and
Bridget Montgomery also swam in a 'B' final. MacDonald was 14th in the 400 IM, clocking in at 4:35.01 while Montgomery was 15th in the 200 freestyle (1:57.99).
Yurika Tomita raced in the 'C' final of the 100 fly, taking 21st in 1:00.16.
The squad finished off the night with the 400 medley relay. The team of Liberman, Salmon, Enda and MacDonald completed the race in 3:54.20 for sixth place.
"We had a strong day," coach
Kerry Smith said. "Between yesterday and today we've gained three more 'A' final swims than last year and still have a day to go. We've had women put themselves in scoring positions that hadn't last year. Overall we are moving in the right direction."
The team sits at sixth place at the end of Day 3 with 190.5 points. Action on the final day of the America East Championship begins Sunday with prelims at 10 a.m. followed by event finals at 5 p.m.
