After three days of competition at the Terrier Invitational in Boston, the Massachusetts women’s swim and dive team came in fifth place with 714.5 points while the Massachusetts men’s swim and dive team placed in fourth with 882.5 points.
“I’m pretty excited about our ability to get up to speed at this point in the year,” head coach Sean Clark said. “Our big Massachusetts in-state rivals were here, BC and BU, and Northeastern women. Really competitive, we feel like we stand up pretty well.”
The Minutewomen (0-2) had strong performances in several areas despite the loss. Maggie Desmond took third in the 100 breast with a time of 1:03.91, and third in the 100 back with a time of 1:03.91. Caroline Mahoney finished second in the 100 free with a time of 50.88. Along with Summer Pierce and Megan Mitchell, the foursome took home third in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:41.99, setting a new program record.
“I am truly excited about where we are at with our women’s program. The returners continue to improve and the new blood coming in is hungry for more and to make their presence known,” Clark said. “It’s going to continue to be exciting, and we want more. We’re not done.”
There were other excellent performances as well, with Mitchell coming in fifth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.1, followed by Mahoney taking eighth and Bri Williams coming in at 10th. Pierce finished third in the 200 butterfly with a 58.04 time, showing a good all-around performance for UMass.
On the men’s side, the Minutemen (0-2) earned multiple medals through the three-day meet. Eric Eastham took home the silver in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.38. UMass excelled in multi-swimmer competition as it took first place in 800 free relay with a 6:42.73 time led by Eastham, Emerson Kiefer, Wilson Dubois and Juan Montori.
“[The] 800 free relay was really the gemstone of the meet for us. We didn’t back off too much all the way through today, the 400 free relay was almost as good,” Clark said.
Other notable performances for the Minutemen included a third place finish in the 100 back from Noah Witt with a 49.79. In the diving events, freshman Andrew Bell earned second place in the 1-meter diving final with a 310.25 score.
“I think that actually the men’s performance of the meet for us was Andrew Bell on the 1-meter board,” Clark said. “He is a freshman and he was a zone-qualifying score. It was the ninth best performance in program history and it really makes me excited to watch him start to develop.”
Both teams performed well, regardless of the loss. The invitation proved to be an opportunity for UMass to prepare for the rest of its season and get excited for what is to come.
“I think we’ve gotten really good at making sure that if things don’t go our way, we move forward to the next opportunity,” Clark said. “I’m really excited about our maturity in pressure situations and tough spots and I think that generates even more excitement looking forward”
The Minutemen will make their return to the pool on Jan. 7 vs. Bryant, and the Minutewomen will face Binghamton/Vermont on Dec. 3.
Lucy Postera can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @lucypostera. Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
