The Tate Ramsden Invitational was won decisively by Dartmouth, as the Big Green’s men won by a score of 187.5-142.5, and the women won 189-136.
Even though a team never wants to see a loss in on their schedule, this one did not affect the Minutemen nor the Minutewomen in the long term, and it was obvious from the start that Dartmouth had a clear advantage over UMass.
The Big Green came into the weekend wearing highly expensive tech suits during the Invite, which is a suit that helps one to swim faster and take a longer time to fatigue. Both the Minutemen and Minutewomen have elected to preserve these suits for the postseason, as they wear out each time they are used in the water.
Another advantage in this meet was where the two teams were in their training cycle. Dartmouth came into the meet well rested, while UMass came in right in the middle of a heavy training cycle, as they are looking long term, and will start tapering their workloads in the upcoming week to be rested for the A10 championships.
“We swam really well,” said men’s coach Russ Yarworth. “I love the way the kids approached it, their maturity, race strategy, everything we were looking for. They didn’t have enough gas in the tank to keep up with [Dartmouth].”
Even in the loss, senior Al Madden broke a Dartmouth pool record in the 200-yard breaststroke, putting up a time of 1:56.49, beating the previous pool record of 1:59.97. Unsurprisingly, the Big Green broke four pool records over the weekend, with Christina Cianciolo breaking the females’ 1650-yard freestyle record of 17:07.10, with a time of 17:03.00.
Junior phenom Connor Lamastra broke three pool records all by himself this weekend, starting with the 200-yard individual medley where he beat the time of 1:49.38 with a time of 1:48.21. The second was the 200-yard freestyle, which he beat the time of 1:39.27 by finishing in 1:38.09. And on the final day, he beat the men’s 1650-yard freestyle pool record of 15:23.07, which has been held since 1981, with a time of 15:20.72.
Maja Boric continues to pile on wins to her already dominant season as she took home both the one-meter and three-meter dives this weekend, scoring a 268.72 in the one-meter and a 308.77 in the three-meter. This puts her total win-loss record for the season at 15-1.
Other winners for the Minutemen and Minutewomen include junior Chase Kent (400-yard individual medley), freshmen Noah Witt (200-yard backstroke) and Jamie MacDonald (200-yard butterfly), Olivia Mozoki (200-yard breaststroke) and Olga Egkorova, who received praise from Women’s coach Bob Newcomb.
“Some of the best racing I’ve seen her do,” said Newcomb. “Just finishing and beating people to the wall, I think that was really good to see her do. She had a tough weekend in the 500 free and the 400 IM, and then this afternoon won the 200 back and the 200 [butterfly], so she’s doing really well.”
Egkorova’s 200-yard butterfly time was also her all-time personal best.
UMass comes out of this weekend with the same focus that it’s had since the very beginning of the season, which is making sure it is in the best position to succeed when it is time to compete in Geneva, Ohio for the A10 championship.
The Minutemen and Minutewomen will have their final meet of the year this upcoming Saturday at home vs. conference opponent Fordham.
Joseph Aliberti can be reached via email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @JosephAliberti1.
