Both the Massachusetts men and women swimming and diving team were victorious in their respective meets against Binghamton over the weekend.
The meets started on Friday and carried over to Saturday. It was the first multi-day meet of the season for both teams.
The men’s team captured its first win of the season as it defeated the Bearcats 205.5-113.5. Before the win, the Minutemen lost their first two meets of the season to Army and Boston University.
It was a complete team victory as UMass won 14 out of 15 individual events, including 11 of the 12 Saturday matches to outscore Binghamton 160-66.
Michael Glenn won the 400-meter individual medley, 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke with a record time of 2:05:77 for his first victory of the season in that event.
Alessandro Bomprezzi continued his strong start to the season by coming in first in the 500-meter freestyle on Friday and the 200-meter and 1000-meter freestyles on Saturday. After placing second in his first race of the season, Bomprezzi has won seven straight races.
“The team definitely showed how it is progressing this weekend,” Bomprezzi said. “We had great swims from the freshmen which show potential for the upcoming meets.”
Two freshmen that particularly impressed this weekend were Oliver Wyeth and Owen Wright, as both accounted for a total of three meet events.
Wyeth won two backstroke events including the 100-meter race for the third time this year. Wright won his first event at the collegiate level after placing first in the 200-meter individual medley on Friday.
Bomprezzi said he was very pleased with the team as a whole but added that Wright’s performance stood out to him the most.
“(Wright) won his first collegiate race in the 200 IM with an outstanding finish,” Bomprezzi said. “He was losing going into the last 50 but he held on and surpassed the competitor in the last few yards.”
Minutewomen also prove victorious
The women’s team defeated Binghamton by a score of 195-125 after heading into the second day of events with a 17-point lead.
The Minutewomen improved to 2-1 after coming off of a loss to Boston University last week.
UMass coach Bob Newcomb said he thought his team’s performance was much better than against the Terriers.
“The way they swam was just better, (they) swam much better than last time and the whole team stepped up,” Newcomb said.
Meriza Werenski remained undefeated this season, winning both the 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter freestyle. She has won her first eight events of the season.
When asked about Werenski’s impact on the team, Newcomb had high praise for the sophomore.
“She is an exceptional athlete, one of the best athletes I’ve ever had,” he said.
Newcomb also stressed how important it is for Werenski to step up as a team leader in her second year.
“She’s a great team player,” Newcomb said. “She’s always the first one picking teammates up, encouraging them, giving them high fives. I wouldn’t trade her for anything.”
Senior Zoe Judd also contributed to UMass’ win as she won the 200-meter freestyle and placed second in the 100-meter freestyle.
Freshman Emma Roush won her first event of the year in the 1-meter diving event.
“It was great to see her step up,” Newcomb said. “We had our lead diver out because of injury and it was great to see (Roush) step up.”
The Minutemen and women return home this Saturday when they face Brown.
Victor Pusateri can be reached at [email protected].
