The Massachusetts swimming and diving teams travel to Westpoint, New York this weekend to compete in a dual meet against Army.
The Minutemen are coming off a victory against a strong Boston University program last weekend, and hope to carry that momentum in their next matchup.
UMass edged the Terriors by a score of 153-147 in front of a spirited home crowd. It did so by winning the last event of the day, the 200 yard freestyle.
Before the season started, UMass men’s coach Russ Yarworth felt confident of this weekend’s race versus Army.
“We beat them last year so we know that they are going to be locked and loaded for us,” Yarworth said.
The Minutemen played at home last year but will now meet BU at Crandall pool. Both teams put together strong performances and emerged victorious against a strong Army program.
It marked the first time that the Minutemen defeated Army, as they won 12-of-16 events to outscore them 174-126. The team received strong efforts from Jason Cooke who won all three diving events.
The Minutewomen also had a dominant performance in last year’s meet in which they took 14-of-16 events won, 187-94.
Senior co-captain Elizabeth Walsh was one Minutewomen who turned in a strong performance in last year’s meet, placing first in two events. With a time of 1:50:01 she finished first in the 100-yard backstroke. She followed up that win with a 2:10:03 in the 200-yard backstroke, which earned her first place.
The Minutewomen hope to rebound after opening the season with a loss against Boston University. Before the start of the season, UMass women’s coach Bob Newcomb expressed his eagerness to see how his freshmen would perform in last week’s opener.
Freshman Amina Meho from Burlington, Mass responded well as she placed first in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Molly Ekins opened up her collegiate diving career with third place performance behind teammate Hannah Swift, in the 1-yard diving competition.
This weekend, however will mark the team’s first race of the season in unfamiliar territory. It has been training in John Rodgers Pool since the beginning of the year.
Army is coming off a strong showing in the Syracuse Invitational last Friday. Although the race was a non-scoring event, the team received many solid performances including one from Lindsey Adao that earned her the award of Patriot League Diver of the week.
Jeffrey Engmann can be reached via email at [email protected]
