Heading into the holiday season, the Massachusetts swimming and diving teams have much to celebrate. The Minutemen (3-0) are coming off an impressive showing at the Nutmeg Invitational, where the squad captured 12 events during the three-day competition. Formatted to duplicate the Atlantic 10 Championships, 19 freshmen from the men’s and women’s teams experienced tournament action for the first time.
Junior Dylan Smith helped lead the Minutemen, with wins in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. Smith was previously named the A-10 Simmer of the Week after taking four events against Boston University Nov. 8.
Also wining two events was freshman Greg Chartier, who placed first in the in the 400-yard individual medley (4:05.08) and 500-yard freestyle (4:38.48). Chartier finished the day by swimming a leg on the winning 800-yard free relay team. Following the meet, Chartier was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the second time this season.
Fellow freshman Gordon Leonard tallied two victories as well. The sprinter took gold in the 50 and 100-yard free, with times of 21.91 and 47.81, respectively.
“This team is starting to show a lot of depth,” men’s coach Russ Yarworth said. “The youngsters have tons of talent and the upperclassmen are proving to be great leaders, this [weekend] was a real team effort.”
The Maroon and White won’t have much time to celebrate their success, as they prepare for a trip to the tropics, Saturday, Jan. 4, where they will compete in the San Juan Invitational in Puerto Rico. The Invite is a non-scoring affair that will pit Massachusetts against unknown competition.
“We won’t know who we’re facing until we get there. I think Army and Notre Dame will be there, but since it’s a scrimmage random teams that can afford to go will be there,” Yarworth said. “The kids raised all the money for the trip, and it should be a nice getaway.”
After six days in Puerto Rico, the Minutemen will fly back to New England for the Rhode Island Invitational Saturday, Jan. 10 and 11, in South Kingston R.I. The Minutemen will need to be careful not to let Rhode Island, Dartmouth and La Salle, de-rail their run for a fourth consecutive A-10 title. The squad will be forced to shake off jet lag, as they will fly into Rhode Island from San Juan on the eve of the Invite.
After the weekend competition in South Kingston, the teams will travel to New Haven Connecticut for the dual meet at Southern Connecticut St., Saturday, Jan. 18. Divers from the men’s and women’s teams will be on a training exercise, so UMass will enter the competition at a disadvantage.
“The Dual meet verse Southern Connecticut will be the reverse of what we dealt with in the St. John’s meet, except this time it will be our swimmers who will have to play catch-up for the forfeited diving points,” Yarworth said.
UMass will finish off the break with a dual meet at Boston College, Saturday, Jan. 24. According to Yarworth, UMass has extra incentive to defeat BC (4-1).
“I think we’ve only lost to BC once in my career, but back in ’87 or ’88 they beat us to break our 43 meet winning streak, and we don’t forget that too easily,” Yarworth said jokingly.
By this point in the season, the Minutewomen will face a very tough opponent in the Eagles (6-1).
As it stands today, the Maroon and White are entering the break led by captains Diana Alberti and Lauren Rowell, who were named this week’s Co-A-10 Female Performers of the Week after Saturday’s Nutmeg Invite. Alberti, the teams butterfly specialist, won her event in both the 100 and 200-yard distances, with times of 59.15 and 2:07.42, respectively.
Rowell took top honors in the 200-yard individual medley (2:09.93) and the 200-yard back (2:09.06).
Both sprinters swam a leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team, which was anchored by fellow tri-captain Christen Dexter and sophomore Aimee Bourassa.
The undefeated 200-yard free relay team had another impressive performance, winning the event in 1:38.83. The team was comprised of sophomore Kelly Hoffrage, Bourassa and the freshman duo of Nicole Le Barge and Liz Lovejoy.
