Several young swimmers from northern Delaware established themselves on the collegiate level this season.
Corinne Capodanno, a freshman at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., emerged as a standout for the Bears, who just missed a Centennial Conference championship, finishing second behind Gettysburg College by seven points. Capodanno and her teammates turned in several outstanding performances over the three-day meet this past weekend at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
On Friday, Capodanno was part of the winning 200-meter freestyle relay team, and she finished second in the 50-meter freestyle, hitting the wall less than two-tenths of a second behind the winner, Caitlin Klockner of Dickinson College.
She returned Saturday to win the 200-meter freestyle event, defeating her closest competition by more than a second. Ursinus also won the 800 free relay, in which she swam the third leg, and the 200 medley relay team finished second.
Capodanno came back Sunday to take second in the 100-meter freestyle, and she was part of the 400 free relay team that not only took gold, but set a Centennial Conference championship record with a time of 3:33.44.
Capodanno lives in Claymont and is a graduate of Padua Academy.
Her high school teammate, Taylor Shelley, is still competing for the Rider University Broncs, who took second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships Feb. 14-16 in Buffalo, N.Y. Shelley, a freshman, placed fifth in the 200-yard individual medley, an event won by her teammate, Kelly O’Connor, and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke, her team’s best in that event.
Shelley, who lives in Brandywine Hundred, also competed in the 400-yard IM.
Kelsey Dramis, a freshman at Loyola University Maryland, also swam at the MAAC championship meet, helping the Greyhounds to a third-place showing. She placed fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, an event won by Bethant Powhida of Marist. Loyola had three finishers among the top eight. In the 200-yard backstroke, Dramis came in 15th.
Dramis lives in north Wilmington and is a graduate of Archmere Academy.
Another swimmer with Delaware ties will compete in the Big East Conference championship beginning Feb. 27 in Indianapolis. Matt Tankle, a Salesianum School graduate from West Chester, Pa., will represent the University of Pittsburgh. In Pitt's last Big East Conference meet Jan. 26 at nearby Villanova, Tankle finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and also the 200-yard individual medley, and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke. In addition, he was on three relay teams: the 200- and 400-yard medley, and the 200-yard free.
One of Tankle’s teammates, the only one featured here who is not a freshman, is junior Robert Power, a native of Boothwyn, Pa., who did his summer recreational swimming at Ashbourne Swim Club, where he holds virtually every boys record.
In the Villanova meet, Power was a member of the winning 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay teams, and he won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events. He also swam on one of Pitt’s 200-yard free relay team.
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