East Carolina University
The American Championships
Pirates Maintain Positions At The American Championships
February 19, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
Championship Central | Thursday Night's Results
GREENSBORO, N.C. --- East Carolina senior Nikola Simic captured two gold medals to help the men's swimming and diving team maintain a hold on second-place at 2015 American Athletic Conference Championships Thursday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
The Pirates trail first-place SMU by seven points, 347-340, on the men's side, while the ladies remain in third-place with 219.5 points, 50.5 behind SMU for the overall lead and 1.5 back of second-place UConn.
Simic proved to be fastest swimmer at the meet, winning the men's 50 free with a NCAA B qualifying time of 19.87, touching 0.43 seconds in front of UConn's Felix Samuels. He later swam the lead off leg to help the Pirates' 200 free relay team capture the gold medal with an ECU record time of 1:19.77.
Simic was joined on the relay team by Trevor Irish, Michael Dugan and Shawn Hunter. ECU has won all three of the men's relays at this year's championship.
Senior Rokas Cepulis was also a victorious with a NCAA B qualifying and varsity record time in the men's 200 IM, edging out sophomore teammate Fran Krznaric by 0.12 seconds with mark of 1:45.61.
On the ladies side, East Carolina claimed a pair of bronze medals. Senior Lauren Chew finished third in the 500 free with a varsity record time of 4:49.83 as did junior Bailie Monahan in the 200 IM with a mark of 2:02.42.
Competition continues Friday, with preliminaries at noon ET and finals at 6 p.m. ET as the individual swimming events get underway.
Players Mentioned
