On Saturday, the Massachusetts men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were defeated by Brown in a dual meet on the road in Providence, R.I..
The men’s team lost 201-93 and the women’s team lost 173-127.
Coming off their first victory of the season against Binghamton on Nov. 2, the Minutemen (1-3) could not maintain a winning streak, as they failed to win a single swimming event against the Bears.
One of UMass’ best performances came from the 200-yard freestyle relay team, comprised of John Conway, Wiktor Karpinski, Troy Nichols and Brian Stiles. The team finished with a combined time of 1:25.05: Good enough for second place.
Junior Michael Glenn also finished in second place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:57.66.
Despite struggling overall in the pool, the Minutemen continued to find success on the diving board, led by sophomore Josh Koppel.
Koppel finished in first place in both the 1-meter (296.80) and 3-meter (325.20) dives, accumulating a team-high 18 points for UMass for the day. Koppel has now taken first place in these two events in each of the Minutemen’s four meets so far this season.
Werenski and Judd continue to show consistency for Minutewomen despite loss
The Minutewomen (2-2) also lost to Brown on Saturday, but they did find success in the form of junior Zoe Judd and freshman Meriza Werenski.
Both swimmers were rewarded with conference honors following their contributions in last weekend’s victory against the Bearcats. Judd was named the Atlantic 10 Swimmer of the Week and Werenski took home the title of Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week.
Judd continued to perform well in her freestyle events against the Bears, as she finished first in the 50-yard freestyle (24.03) and second in the 100-yard (52.13) and 200-yard freestyle races (1:51.85).
Werenski finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.97), 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.44) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.12).
In addition, Judd and Werenski both contributed to a second-place finish for the 400-yard medley relay team, along with Rebecca Quirie and Jocelyn Yuen.
“They’re on top of their game right now,” said coach Bob Newcomb. “It’s a really good sign that their hard work is paying off for them.”
The Minutewomen achieved the top four scores in both diving events. For the 1-meter and the 3-meter dives, Mikhaila Eckhardt, Rachel Dushman, Rhiannon Froman and Julia Jagannath rounded out the top four.
This success came in spite of the absence of senior diver Michaela Butler, who finished in first place in every diving event this season prior to the meet against Brown. She did not participate on Saturday due to undisclosed reasons.
“[The divers] did a great job,” Newcomb said. “They are learning their dives, they are working very hard and they are a fun group to watch dive together.”
The UMass men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will return to action on Nov. 22 for the three-day Terrier Invitational held in Boston, where numerous schools from the northeast region will participate, including Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and Vermont.
Anthony Chiusano can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.
