UConn vs Rhode Island
- November 9, 2024
- Storrs, CT
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: UConn Athletics
The UConn women’s swimming and diving team hosted and defeated the University of Rhode Island in a dual meet Saturday afternoon at Wolff-Zackin Natatorium.
With yet another large crowd in attendance, the Huskies won by a score of 155-134, behind three pool records and a school record in a very impressive showing. The meet began by a pool record in the 400 yard medley relay, with the relay team of Maggie Donlevy, Sydney Perkins, Stella McCardie, and Jessica Sheng setting the record with a time of 3:41.58. The Huskies continued with another pool record in the 400 yard individual medley set by Lexi Martino with a final time of 4:23.09.
The Huskies finished off the event with a pool and school record in the 200-yard back stroke set by sophomore Bella Hoffman to cap off a great meet.
“It was really unexpected,” said sophomore Bella Hoffman on the school record. “I told my coaches that I wanted to swim that event and just really unexpected, really incredible feeling and it felt great.”
Junior Darah Ostrom led the way for the Huskies in the 3-meter diving with 9 points, with senior Julia Pioso and Sophomore Kate Cooper finishing just behind Ostrom with 4 and 3 points.
“I think with the hard week of work that we had, it was amazing that we came in and were so strong,” said Norah Rome on today’s performance as a whole. “I think that everyone did incredible and all the work that we’ve been putting in has been paying off.”‘
The Huskies are now 3-2 on the season and are looking to bring this momentum to their next week in two weeks where they are set to go to the Bucknell Invitational, which is set for Friday November 22 to Sunday November 24.
“It certainly it feels like we’re on the right track,” said Coach Chris Maiello on today’s school and pool records and looking ahead to the next meet. “They’ve been consistent for weeks and years in a row and it was great to see that in front of the home fans. It’s really high (the momentum) and really just gives our team a lot of confidence going forward.”
Courtesy: URI Athletics
Team Scores
Connecticut 155
Rhode Island 134
How It Happened
Connecticut won the first five events of the day and was able to hold off a game Rhode Island squad Saturday, holding off the Rams 155-134.
The Rams (2-2) got a pair of victories from sophomore Julianna Tyler. She won both the 200-yard Butterfly and 400-yard Individual Medley while contributing a team-best 20 points to URI’s score.
In the 200 Butterfly, Tyler and Rhody junior Ella Hacker provided a 1-2 finish for the Rams. Tyler finished in 2:01.71, while Hacker posted a time of 2:05.39, touching the wall .09 seconds before UConn’s Julia Fondersmith.
Hacker later added a win in the 100-yard Butterfly with her time of 57.10 seconds.
Standouts from the Pool
- Senior Hannah Benavides outdueled Connecticut’s Sydney Perkins to win the 200-yard Breaststroke. Benavides had a winning time of 2:16.55, 1.33 seconds ahead of Perkins.
- Benavides added a second-place finish in the 100 Breaststroke. Her time of 1:03.89 was just .36 seconds behind UConn’s Kiera Liesinger.
- Junior Rylee Kelly scored in several events for URI. She was third in the 200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle, earning three team points in each event.
Up Next
Rhode Island will host the four-day Harold Anderson Invitational from Nov. 21-24 at the Tootell Aquatic Center.
How much additional cost would be incurred by the UConn athletics department if they brought back the men’s team with no additional coaching staff and no scholarships offered? Wouldn’t that be a net positive to the university?
I’m not sure. Equipment and travel would be the obvious costs. There’s insurance to cover injuries, administrative staff and medical staff (although I doubt they would need to increase these at all for just a team of 20), and academic support.
I also question whether its fair to the coaching staff to add another 20 or so athletes to train without any bump in compensation or help. UConn’s pool isn’t too large, so they would have to run separate practices. Then again, I’m sure the coaching staff would support the addition.
Been In the Swimming world for over 20 years I didn’t realize 3 people make up a whole relay team. Maybe you could give credit to the fourth as well?
This is the UConn press release. Don’t be mad at us, be mad at your SID.