The Massachusetts women’s swim and dive team fell to Yale on Saturday in the team’s first home meet of the season, 163-126 at the Joseph Rogers Pool.
The Minutewomen (0-1) are coming off a successful first place finish at the Justin Jennings Invitational and a second-place finish at the NJIT invitational earlier in the month. The meet against the Bulldogs (1-0) was a good opportunity for UMass to test themselves head-to-head for the first time this season.
UMass performed well despite the loss in the home opener, recording five event wins and finishing top three in 21 events. Among the first-place finishes was an impressive gold medal finish for senior Megan Mitchell in the 200 yard backstroke, winning the race with a finals time of 2:03.36.
In other individual events, freshman Beren Cakiroglu took first place in the 200-yard IM with a finals time of 2:09.23. Cakiroglu’s performance comes off being named Atlantic 10 Women’s Rookie of the Week in October. UMass swept the 200-yard IM with Lauren Long and Lexi Alexen finishing in second and third place.
The Minutewomen dominated the 500-yard freestyle event, sweeping the podium with UMass swimmers earning the top three finishes. Freshman Sophie Porter won the event with a 5:18.07 finals time followed by Alexen and Ursula Koch in second and third place respectively.
The UMass upperclassmen swept the 100-yard butterfly as well, with senior Ashley Calderon earning the gold with a 57.61 finals time. Mitchell was second with a 59.24 time and junior Hannah McIver was third with a 1:03.34 time.
Relays were another bright spot-on Saturday for UMass, with Bri Williams, Lindsay Burbage, Summer Pierce and Caroline Mahoney teaming up to win second place in the 200-yard medley relay. The Minutewomen also finished first in the 200-yard freestyle relay, won by the team of Pierce, Calderon, Mahoney and Maggie Desmond. The UMass team of Williams, Anna Kwon, Olga Stoura and Diya Ackerman-Vallala followed two seconds behind for the second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
UMass added to its score with performances in backstroke, breaststroke and free style individual events. The Minutewomen claimed second and third in the hotly contested 100-yard backstroke event, with Mitchell placing second with a 57.46 time, just two tenths of a second behind the winner, Quinn Murphy of Yale. Williams was third with a time of 57.76.
The freshmen shined for the Minutemen in Saturday’s meet with Cakiroglu and Burbage putting points on the board for UMass. Cakiroglu went second in the 200-yard freestyle and Burrage took home second in the 100-yard breaststroke. Burrage also took second in the 200-yard breaststroke.
In diving, Salem Howes got on the podium in the 1-meter diving event, taking third place with a score of 237.98. Howes also earned a fourth-place finish in the three-meter diving event with a 231.45 score.
The Minutewomen will be back in the pool Saturday, Nov. 4 at home to take on Boston University. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
