Strong individual performances were not enough for the Massachusetts men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams in Saturday’s losses to Boston University.
The men dropped their second straight match to start the season, falling 187-113. UMass received positive results from both swimmers and divers and were led by junior Alessandro Bomprezzi.
Bomprezzi finished first in all three of his races. In the 500-yard freestyle, Bomprezzi posted a time of 4:38.82, nearly 10 seconds better than the second place finisher.
“(Bomprezzi) has made a total commitment to this sport,” coach Russ Yarworth said. “He wants to be as good as he can, (to do) that you have to be 100 percent, 12 months a year.”
Bomprezzi was the biggest standout for the Minutemen this weekend, sweeping the competition. He beat out the Terriers’ Andres Vazquez in the 200-yard freestyle and barely beat teammate Kyle Vieira in the 1000-yard freestyle.
But Bomprezzi was not the only one who stood out for the Minutemen. Trent Kindvall had another strong outing on the diving boards in his second collegiate match.
After winning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors last week, Kindvall finished first in the 1-meter dive and second in the 3-meter dive.
“(Kindvall) has been outstanding so far this season,” diving coach Mandy Hixon said. “I think he can still grow but he has certainly stepped up for the men so far.”
Kindvall finished with a score of 274.42 in the 1-meter diving, beating the second best time by 13 points. He was just five points away from securing his second win, falling to BU’s Adam Gross in the 3-meter dive.
The trio of Kindvall, Robert Barry and James Albanese had another impressive output for the diving team. Barry finished third in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives while Albanese took home fifth place in both events.
UMass also had a first place finish from Oliver Wyeth in the 100-yard backstroke. His time of 50.42 was enough to beat out the Terriers’ Connor Stuewe by .07 seconds.
Minutewomen fall to Terriers
Despite a valiant effort, the Minutewomen lost to BU by a score of 174.5-120.5. The Minutewomen dominated in multiple events but it was the overall performance of the Terriers that proved to be too much.
Meriza Werenski led the way again for UMass, winning both her events and remaining undefeated to start the year. She won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:24.01 and the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:29.51.
“Werenski has been outstanding again this season,” coach Bob Newcomb said. “She has been swimming extremely well and we are going to need to her continue doing so.”
The 400-yard IM was a strength for UMass on Sunday as the top four finishers in the event were all Minutewomen. Katie Arnott (4:39.34), Jenna Diamond (4:39.77) and Sophie Hornby (4:57.93) all followed behind Werenski.
The diving team of Mikhaila Eckhardt, Rachel Dushman, Julia Jagannath, Rhiannon Froman and Emma Roush took the top four spots in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Eckhardt won both events with scores of 260.47 (1-meter) and 249.37 (3-meter).
“(Eckhardt) and the rest of the team were fantastic for us,” Dixon said. “I could not have been happier about their results.”
The Minutewomen saw another group finish with success in the 200-yard freestyle relay, where the top two spots belonged to UMass as its “A” and “B” relay teams took home points with every other team getting disqualified.
“I was happy with the performances and how hard they have been working,” Newcomb said. “The girls have been great we just need to correct and fix some things.”
Tyler Fiedler can be reached at [email protected].
