The undefeated Vermont women’s swimming & diving team concludes its annual winter training trip in Florida and prepares to open the second half of the season
on Saturday (
Jan. 7) against two-time defending America East champion UMBC along with Howard in Baltimore. The double dual meet is scheduled to begin at
2 p.m. UVM has defeated each of its other three America East opponents by at least 45 points this season.
LAST TIME OUT
Vermont closed the first half of the season on
Nov. 19 by placing third overall with 500 points at the annual Terrier Invitational hosted by Boston University. Army defended its title with 1,000.5 points while host BU took second overall with 920.5 points.
On the final day, the Catamounts won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.08 and earned 40 points as UVM held off BU for the top spot by just three tenths of a second. Haley Gula raced her way to a second place finish in the 200 breaststroke at 2:21.04 and Shannon Cowley grabbed a third place spot behind Gula with a time of 2:21.17. In the 100-yard freestyle race, Sarah Mantz had another top-3 performance with a third place overall finish in 51.46.
UVM’s best performance on day two was a second place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay when the team of Kelly Lennon, Abby Holmquist, Mantz, and Sophia Smith posted a time of 7:32.20 for 34 points. The Catamounts’ 200 free relay team of Mantz, Courtney Gray, Kira Hancock, and Sierra Sexton began the competition by finishing less than a second out of first place and took third overall with a time of 1:35.01.
FAST START
UVM (5-0, 3-0 AE) is off to its first perfect five-win start since the 2011-12 season when it began the year 7-0. Vermont’s average margin of victory in its five dual meets this season is nearly 60 points. The Catamounts have a chance to match the 7-0 start from five seasons ago on Saturday if they defeat both the Retrievers and Bison in Maryland. Vermont will be facing UMBC for the first time in a non-championship setting during Gerry Cournoyer‘s tenure as head coach.
SCOUTING UMBC
The Retrievers claimed sixth place last time out in November at the Patriot Invitational, hosted by George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia. UMBC is led by defending America East Swimmer of the Year Emily Escobedo, who made a return trip to the NCAA Championships last season and took third place in the 200 breast. She became the first Retriever and conference swimmer to score points at the national meet, making the A finals.
The senior also broke the school record in the 200 breast at the America East Championships, which UMBC won for the second straight year in Worcester with a meet record 885.5 points. Escobedo has been named America East Swimmer of the Week four times this year, while Abby Biddulph has earned the last two Diver of the Week honors.
SCOUTING HOWARD
Howard finished ninth at last year’s CCSA Championships but registered 52 new personal-best times and broke nine school records. The Bison are 1-4 entering Saturday’s competition and are coming off a fourth place showing out of 11 teams at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, hosted by Randolph-Macon in early December.
Following the meet, sophomore KaSandra Kaplan was named the CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Week as she broke three individual school records and one relay record over the weekend. She set the 500 freestyle record that had previously been held since 1989 and also snapped the 400 IM and 200 backstroke records.
WHO’S NEXT
The Catamounts travel to Boston next Saturday, Jan. 14 for a road matchup with Northeastern at 1 p.m. Vermont then returns home for Senior Day on Jan. 21 against Rhode Island at 12 p.m. at Forbush Natatorium in the final meet before conference championships.
Speeder & Earl’s Coffee is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 women’s swimming & diving season
