Rhode Island at Massachusetts
- Jan. 15, 2019
- UMass def. Rhode Island 185-110
- Results
Courtesy: UMass Athletics
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts women’s swimming and diving team set the tone for the afternoon in the very first event of the day, posting a time of 3:53.56 in the 400 Medley Relay team on their way to a new Rogers Pool record in a 185-110 win over Rhode Island on Tuesday. The Minutewomen picked up their second pool record time of 7:44.75 of the afternoon in the 800 Freestyle Relay.
Maddie Biron, Ansley Baker, Rachel Grant and Mariam Labib posted the pool record time in the 400 Medley Relay to open the day, breaking a 15-year-old record set by UMKC in 2003. Baker and Labib went on to finish their afternoon by combining with Olga Egkorova and Kelly Malyszka to break an 18-year-old record in the 800 Freestyle Relay that was set by Syracuse in December of 2000.
Individually, the Minutewomen won 13 races on the afternoon beginning with a Malyszka swim of 5:13.83 to win the 500 Freestyle in the first individual event.
Grant claimed the top spots in both the 50 and 100 Butterfly races, first in the 100 Fly to lead four Minutewomen in the top-three with a time of 56.40 before going on to win the 50 Fly with a swim of 26.11 ahead of teammate Stephanie Judge in second at 26.96. Judge went on to finish second in the 50 Freestyle behind Labib’s winning swim of 24.74.
Baker won a pair of individual events for the Minutewomen, finishing first in the 25 Freestyle with a time of 11.28 before winning her second event of the day in the 100 Breaststroke with a swim of 1:05.22. Chelsea Meiring posted the top-time in the 100 IM to wrap up the individual events on the day and finished second in the 25 Freestyle sprint after winning the 50 Breaststroke earlier in the meet with a time of 30.82 followed by Mia Flagiello in second.
In addition to helping set a pair of new pool records, Biron posted the top swim of 59.52 in the 100 Backstroke and added a runner-up finish in the 100 Freestyle. Meghan Gray finished as the runner-up in the 100 Back with a time of 1:02.29.
Natalie Gallamore picked up a win in the 50 Backstroke to lead a pair of top-two finishers for the Minutewomen with a mark of 28.64 followed by Sydnee Aubin in second. Egkorova led the way in the final non-exhibition race for UMass with a time of 1:57.59 to win the 200 Freestyle.
Katie Polk led the UMass divers with another two-win day on the boards, scoring 285.82 in the 1-Meter Dive and 303.68 in the 3-Meter Dive to win both. Maja Boric finished as the runner-up in both dives while Maggie Martin finished fourth in the 1-Meter Dive and Beth Luther finished fourth in the 3-Meter.
Courtesy: Rhode Island Athletics
Rhode Island struggled in its first loss of the season on Tuesday afternoon, falling 185-110 at Massachusetts. The Rams earned first-place finishes in three of the meet’s 16 events.
Junior Mackenna Dunn was the first individual winner for Rhody, claiming the title in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Zoe Sheridan won the 100-yard IM, with sophomore teammates Brooke Kelley and Rebecca Younts rounding out the top three.
Though the Rams have dominated the relay events throughout this season, they were only able to claim today’s 800-yard freestyle event. The quartet of junior Maddie Horner, junior Sabrina Anderson, senior Eliza Anderson and freshman Keely Hemminger grabbed the last points of the meet.
Standouts from the Pool:
- The team of sophomore Cara Megill, junior Mackenna Dunn, junior Caitlin Guccione and junior Emma Grace Pecha finished just behind the winning Rhody team in the 800-yard freestyle relay (8:01.30).
- Freshman Keely Hemminger picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, less than a second off of the winning mark.
- Seniors Grace Kneller and Nicole Petta earned third- and fourth-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle.
- Junior Cassidy Fries finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke, ahead of sophomore Kendra Graham.
Quotable:
“We knew this week was going to be a long one with meets Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday.. so the meet today was a good opportunity for us to let the girls swim some off events. We know our last few meets are going to be competitive and mentally it’s good to get a little break from the events they swim all the time.” – Assistant Coach Lilli Falconer
What’s Next:
The Rams will hit the road to travel to Vermont on Saturday, Jan. 19. The meet against the Catamounts will start at Noon.
