Boston University Bests D3 MIT in Last Minute Matchup

Boston University vs. MIT

• January 11, 2024
• Boston University FitRec Pool, Boston, Massachusetts
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Results
• Team Scores
  • Men: BU 159, MIT 128
  • Women: BU 185, MIT 115

Boston University picked up a dual meet sweep against D3 MIT this weekend in the teams’ first clash in over forty years. BU was initially slated to face BC this weekend, but due to the Eagles’ ongoing suspension found a new opponent on the other side of the Charles River. Most athletes were suited up for this meet.

BU head coach James Sica is in his first season leading the Terriers after spending six seasons with the Engineers.

Women’s Recap

BU opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay. Senior teammates Mitchell (25.38), Clarissa Hoyt (29.24), and Madison Kim (24.86) were already in the lead by over a second before first-year Han Hoang threw down a blistering 22.47 anchor to stop the clock at 1:41.95. Hoang went on to win the 50 free (23.10), but was out-dueled by MIT first-year Ella Roberson in the 100 free, who clocked 51.08 to Hoang’s 51.69.

While the Terrier women took home the overall win, MIT’s Kate Augustyn was the only swimmer to go three-for-three in individual events. The junior kicked off her meet by leading off MIT’s A 200 medley relay (25.98), which finished 2nd overall. She then swam a trio of 200s, hitting season bests in each. Augustyn won the 200 free by over two seconds (1:51.52), which moved her up to #12 in D3 this season. In the 200 back, she out-dueled BU’s Lara Mitchell (1:59.91) to lower her D3-leading time to 1:58.14. Finally, she clocked 2:03.57 in the 200 IM, which ranks #4 nationally in D3.

Two other athletes won multiple individual events: BU sophomore Haley Newman, who touched first in the 200 fly (2:02.51) and 500 free (5:04.11) and MIT fifth-year Edenna Chen, who swept the breaststroke events (1:04.30, 2:21.55).

The rest of the individual swimming event wins went to a trio of Boston seniors: Anastasia Belyakov took the 1000 free (10:30.34), Mitchell posted a dominant win in the 100 back (54.35), and Kim touched first in the 100 fly (56.36).

On the boards, BU senior Sumi Cameron won the 3-meter with a score of 290.85 while MIT first-year Fiora Beratahani earned 302.63 points to win the 1-meter.

BU had already built a commanding lead going into the 200 free relay, but it was still an exciting race. MIT led with 50 runner-up Ella Roberson (23.82), who put the Engineers nearly nine-tenths in the lead against BU’s lead Stella Langenbach (24.71). Next up for BU was Sydney Sorbello (23.45), who started to close the gap against Annika Naveen (23.75). Kim threw down a 23.82 against MIT’s Kathy Zhao (24.03), putting the Terriers just 27-hundredths behind going into the final leg. The anchor legs hit the water, pitting 50 free winner Hoang against MIT senior Melody Wen. Though Wen threw down MIT’s fastest split (23.62), Hoang pulled past her with a 22.79, making up the deficit and then some to stop the clock at 1:34.66, over half-a-second ahead of MIT’s final time (1:35.22).

Men’s Recap

BU graduate student and team record-holder Kyle Falkstrom had a perfect meet, going three-for-three in his individual events and helping BU’s 200 medley relay to victory. Falkstrom led wire-to-wire in the 100 breast (54.37) and was the only man sub-2:00 in the 200 breast (1:59.60). He was challenged by MIT junior Roderick Huang in the 200 IM (1:51.69), who started to close the gap on the breaststroke leg, but ultimately emerged victorious to cap off his meet (1:51.06).

Tony Ponomarev also swept his stroke events, touching first in the 100 back (49.85) and 200 back (1:49.28). Ponomarev also had the fastest 50 back split of the field in the 200 medley relay (23.17) from BU’s B squad.

D3 sprint star Tobe Obochi took back-to-back victories in the 50 free (20.44) and 100 free (45.23). He employed an unconventional strategy in the latter, negative-splitting his race (22.95/22.28) after turning in 5th at the halfway point. To close out the meet, Obochi (20.42) joined forces with Arnold Su (20.85), Jaden Luo (20.72), and Evan Liu (20.47) to take the 200 free relay (1:22.46). Obochi also dropped a 19.27 anchor on MIT’s 2nd place 200 medley relay.

Luo and Su took home an individual win each in the 200 free (1:40.01) and 100 fly (49.95) respectively. Luo is currently ranked #1 in D3 with a 1:37.24 from December.

BU junior Dolan Grisbaum won the 1000 free by over ten seconds (9:37.06) over MIT first-year John Tietjen (9:47.41), but when the pair met again in the 500 it was Tietjen who emerged victorious (4:40.11) by just 0.66-seconds.

The 200 fly was an close race between Roderick Huang and BU’s Jonathan Tsang. Tsang got out to an early lead and held off a charging Huang to touch first, 1:51.26 to 1:51.31.

Only two athletes competed in the men’s diving events, and it was BU’s Zein Mahana who swept both boards, scoring 284.70 points in 1-meter and 302.78 in 3-meter.