The Massachusetts swim and dive crew swam with willpower on the nineteenth annual Terrier Invitational from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23 on the FitRec Competition Pool in Boston. The Minutemen (1-2) and Minutewomen (1-1) confronted off towards Boston College, Bryant, Boston University and Fairfield. The girls additionally battled Northeastern, whereas diving took on Army West Point and Colgate. Both the lads’s and ladies’s groups completed No. 4 over the weekend, scoring 781.5 factors and 761 factors, respectively.
The males’s crew turned in a powerful displaying within the 200-yard backstroke, securing first place in each the primary and second heats. Freshman Chase Dai delivered an exceptional efficiency, taking management from the beginning and touching the wall first with a time of 1:51.
In warmth three, sophomore Zach Szabo adopted with one other spectacular effort. After a rocky begin that left him simply off the tempo, he discovered his rhythm, accelerating by way of the center of the race to grab the lead and declare first place with a 1:49.47 time. He completed simply 4 seconds shy of Tony Ponomarev from the Terriers males’s (2-3) crew, and the senior positioned No. 1 total.
Sota Kawahata represented the freshman class as properly, delivering a improbable swim and coming in at No. 14, dropping 2.44 seconds from prelims within the 500-yard freestyle. The A relay crew got here in a detailed fourth place for the 400 medley, securing the doubled factors.
The Minutewomen had excellent performances on the boards as properly. “The whole team did an amazing job,” girls’s head coach Maiya Otsuka stated. “I would say [one] of our bigger standouts [was] … Maria [Grishaeva], [she] did amazing.”
Grishaeva backed up that reward with a standout weekend. On Sunday, she powered ahead within the closing moments of the 200-yard breaststroke’s third warmth, edging out BU girls’s (2-3) freshman Hadar Miller by 2.36 seconds to safe a first-place end for UMass.
Her robust efficiency continued throughout occasions. On Friday, she claimed No. 2 within the particular person medley with a 2:01.39 time, simply 0.28 seconds behind Terriers senior Haley Newman, whereas additionally posting a formidable 3.13-second time drop.
“[The goal is to] fine tune more of our walls and underwaters, some of our relay starts and then just in general keep getting them more into shape, especially our [200-yard] swimmers,” Otsuka stated in regards to the upcoming weeks earlier than the subsequent meet. “Making sure that they’re aerobically ready to go for that last 50 [yards] and then just working on nerves as well.”
With prime finishes within the one-meter and three-meter occasions, the lads dominated the scoreboards. Coming off a formidable meet towards BU, freshman Carson Harrington secured the gold within the three-meter with 339.4 factors, adopted by sophomore Alex Kreidler, who bought silver. Kreidler furthered his drive with a win within the one-meter with 338.8 factors. Harrington got here alongside not too far behind, ending in fourth place.
“Let’s not overlook the diver either,” males’s head coach Sean Clark stated. “[Specifically] Harrington and Kreidler.”
Sophomore Danielle Guerin delivered standout performances on each boards, excelling within the one-meter occasion on Friday and the three-meter on Saturday. In the one-meter, she secured third place with a rating of 255.95, an enchancment of 16.95 factors from her preliminary spherical. Guerin adopted up with one other robust displaying within the three-meter, incomes second place with a complete rating of 261.50.
“This is perfect because nobody is satisfied,” Clark stated. “So, we swam well, we had several best times, but really, it’s a test as a reminder of what we really want to accomplish [in the Missouri Valley Championships].”
To shut out the 12 months, the Minutewomen shall be on the street competing at a tri-meet towards La Salle and Rhode Island on Dec. 7 in Philadelphia. The Minutemen diving crew shall be becoming a member of them to compete towards La Salle and the swim crew will return to the pool within the new 12 months.
Olivia Thibodeaux could be reached at [email protected] and Ashley Son could be reached at [email protected].