Senior Day was a major success for the Massachusetts men’s swimming and diving team, winning 12 events en route to a 176-103 victory over Fordham on Saturday.
The Minutemen scored the maximum amount of points in six of their 12 victories. Senior Chris Inglis was victorious in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races, including a time of 1:38.40 in the 200, the best time in the Atlantic 10 this year.
Inglis, sophomore Alessandro Bomprezzi and junior Hao Luong all won multiple events. All of Bomprezzi’s first-place finishes came in freestyle races, winning in the 500-yard and 1000-yard race, setting a conference high time of 9:19.38 in the 1000.
Luong came away with two victories in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, also recording the fastest time in the A-10 in the 200 with a time of 1:48.31.
Other winners for UMass were Luong, Michael Glenn, Wiktor Karpinski and John Conway in the 200-yard medley relay; Alex Mesisca in the 100-yard breaststroke; Ben Sloan in the 200-yard butterfly; Karpinski in the 50-yard freestyle and Ryan Bobianski in the 200-yard breaststroke. The sole winner for the Minutemen in the diving portion was sophomore Josh Koppel in the 1-meter competition.
Next up for UMass will be the Atlantic 10 Championships, which are set to begin on Feb. 19 in Geneva, Ohio.
Women get easy victory
The Minutewomen also had a triumphant Senior Day, defeating Fordham 164-136 just one week after finishing third in the Dartmouth Invitational.
UMass coach Bob Newcomb was extremely pleased with the way his team performed at this meet, especially since the Atlantic 10 Championships are only a couple weeks away.
“I’m very excited with the way we’ve been swimming, especially at this time of year,” Newcomb said. “I think they are too, and are beginning to see all of their hard work pay off, so I think we are in a good spot to get ourselves into the A-10’s.”
Out of all the swimmers for the Minutewomen, Newcomb says he was most impressed with senior Anna Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh came in first in the 200-yard freestyle, second in the 100-yard freestyle behind fellow teammate Jocelyn Yuen and was part of the 200-yard freestyle relay team that came in second place.
“She won that 200 free in pool record time, and set her best time ever in the 100-yard butterfly, even though she finished fourth,” he said. “Her 100 free was spectacular coming in second to Jocelyn.”
He also had high praise for his sophomore duo of Yuen and Rebecca Quirie. Quirie was a part of the 200-yard medley relay team that took home first place, won the 100-yard backstroke and came in third in the 200-yard backstroke. Yuen won the 100-yard freestyle, 100- and 200-yard butterfly and was also on the 200-yard medley team.
“Jocelyn is just fun to watch right now, Rebecca (Quirie) is in the zone and we’ve also got so many people that are performing at a very good level right now that this team is fun to watch,” Newcomb said.
Junior Katie Arnott won the 100-yard breaststroke, freshman Meriza Werenski won the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley and senior Michaela Butler came away from the diving portion with victories in the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions.
With a brief rest period, UMass will also be back in action on Feb. 19 when the A-10 Championships begin. Newcomb said there will be several keys to maintaining these winning ways heading into the A-10’s.
“We just gotta keep the team excited, and let them know that at this point, it is all about rest,” he said. “Just doing a little less will make the team feel better and get a little more energy to carry on going right into the conference meet.”
Jason Kates can be reached at [email protected].
