The University of Maine had a fair showing Saturday afternoon as the Men’s and Women’s teams faced off against Boston College and the University of Vermont. The Boston College Men’s team beat out the Black Bears by a score of 208-90, while the UMaine women’s team beat the Eagles by a score of 183.50-116.50 but fell to the Catamounts 172-128.
The 4-hour long meet consisted of tight races, smooth dives and a vibrant crowd that contributed to the electric atmosphere inside of the Alumni Memorial Gym pool. For the Black Bears, Saturday’s meets proved to be a building block to their growing teams’ future.
UMaine’s Head Coach Susan Lizzotte was impressed by the performances put forth on Saturday.
“Our times are ahead of where they were in years before,” Lizzotte said. “To lose to Vermont by 44 is a great feat. The men hung strong and won events which is great for us.”
The women’s side was led by first-year Chloe Adams as well as fellow first-year swimmer Emma Pontius who both won two events for the Black Bears. Adams took first in the 200-yard freestyle race as well as the 500-yard freestyle race. Pontius took down the field in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly races.
Lizzotte was happy with her younger swimmers who managed to step up big for them Saturday. “We have a great recruiting class, so all of the first-years have done a great job establishing themselves,” Lizzotte said. “We can rely on them in different places so they have been fabulous so far.”
Lizzotte was not the only coach excited about the revival of the Black Bears Women’s team. “This is not the Maine team of old,” Cournoyer said. “This is a new, strong team led by some very high-quality girls.”
Cournoyer’s Catamounts turned it on in the second half of the meet with first-year Shannon Cowley winning two events including setting a new Vermont freshman record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:24.08.
Third-year diver Maggie Preston swept the diving events for the third-straight meet which, to Cournoyer, proved to be the difference. “Our divers had a really, really good day today, if it was not for the diving team this meet would be really, really close.”
On the men’s side, Boston College came out of the gates fast and never looked back. Led by the two-event winning fourth-year Andrew Stranick, the Eagles led from start to finish.
Third-year Matthew England and second-year Nicholas Sundquist each took first in two races to propel the Black Bears to a strong showing. England won the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke races while Sundquist won the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle races.
Eagles head coach Tom Groden was pleased with his team’s performances Saturday. With bigger meets upcoming, Groden hoped to get good times to work with.
“The men needed to swim well and both groups swam very well,” Groden said. “I’m happy with it. Not everything is an opportunity for a win-loss situation you’re just hoping to swim well.”
While the Eagles’ depth was too much in the end for the Black Bears, UMaine’s third-year Matt England led the Black Bears with two wins and two second-place finishes. Lizzotte was more than satisfied by her men’s side.
“We are still trying to figure out where all the men belong in events but they are very close as a team, and they’re moving forward,” Lizzotte said. “The men hung strong and won events which is great for us.”
UMaine return to the pool Nov. 21 and 22 as they travel to the University of Rhode Island.