In an exciting afternoon of competition, the Massachusetts swim and dive teams both fell to Boston University on Saturday. The Minutemen (0-1) fell 158-141 to the Terriers (1-2) and the Minutewomen (0-2) lost a close meet to the Terriers (2-1), 153-145.
Sophomore Andrew Bell placed first in both the one-meter and three-meter events, scoring 385.43 and 397.28 for the Minutemen, both breaking all-time Atlantic 10 records. His score on the one-meter dive broke the record of 334.50 by UMass’ Jason Cook from 2010-11, and his mark on the three-meter event beat Cook’s tally of 395.05 from 2009-10.
“100 percent the performance of the day goes to Andrew Bell,” head coach Sean Clarke said. “Shattered the 1-meter school and pool record and then on the 3-meter he broke a long-standing record, the sky’s the limit for him.”
It was a highly competitive meet, with several alumni and administrators in attendance, including UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford and Chancellor Javier Reyes. The meet was closest on the women’s side with the Minutewomen clinging to a one-point lead going into the final event. The UMass women would lose the 400-yard freestyle relay to BU and ultimately fall short of the win.
“I think we’re in midseason form now and this is one of our biggest rivals historically,” Clark said. “We showed up to compete, they showed up to compete. Couldn’t be more proud of the way we went at it. Came down on the wrong side of things but the women’s meet came down to the last event and the men’s meet really wasn’t decided until the last two events. So, it was really competitive all the way through.”
Despite the pair of losses, there were several notable performances for UMass on both teams. The Minutemen had gold medal finishes in two swimming events on the day. Notably, in the 200-yard freestyle, UMass swept the podium with Sammy Quigg, Emerson Kiefer and Juan Montori going first, second and third respectively. Quigg also tacked on a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing with a finals time of 45.05.
Montori took home first place in the 100-yard butterfly with a 50.64 time. The Minutemen wrapped up the meet on a positive note, winning the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:05.27. The 3:05.27 time broke the pool record, eclipsing the 3:05.52 time that had stood for over 20 years since Feb. 8, 2003.
The Minutewomen had some significant wins from freshmen Lindsay Burbage, Diya Ackerman-Vallala and Beren Cakiroglu. Burbage placed first in both the Women’s 100 and 200 breaststroke events, and Ackerman-Vallala got second place in both events as well, only a few seconds behind Burbage. Cakiroglu came close to first in the Women’s 200 freestyle but fell behind Boston University’s Stella Langenbach by only 15 milliseconds.
“Up at the top there, [Burbage] just been lighting stuff up better than we could’ve hoped,” Clark said. “And then [Ackerman-Vallala] in the IMs and the breaststrokes right behind her has been just such a boon for building our team for the future. And then [Cakiroglu] is just growing into her speed as well, 50, 100, and 200 free. And really pulling everyone else along. It’s been an impressive next step in the development of our program.”
The Minutewomen also had strong showing from their upperclassmen swimmers. Anna Kwon had a thrilling win in the 500-yard freestyle by just about one tenth of a second, winning the event with a 5:08.06 time. Summer Pierce took home the gold in the 200 butterfly and Megan Mitchell also took first in the 200 backstroke.
“I think Anna Kwon’s 500 freestyle was the key to keeping us in the meet,” Clark said. “Really that’s her best time in-season ever. And then leadership, Summer Pierce 200 fly and then Megan Mitchell in the 200 back. Just senior leadership has been key for us.”
On the boards, graduate student Tommy Cotner placed second on the one meter with a score of 273.45 and third on three meter with a score of 239.93. For the Minutewomen, sophomore Salem Howes placed third on one meter with a score of 246.15, and fifth on three meter with a score of 227.78.
With the meet against BU in the books, UMass will look ahead to its next meet, the Terrier Invitational, which is set to kick off on Friday, Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. The Minutemen and Minutewomen will have about two weeks to train and prepare for the three-day event that runs through Sunday, Nov. 19.
“We knew we would be ready to swim fast today just because of our competition and the timing of things,” Clark said. “We’re right back to hard training for the next week and a half or so. And then we will let up the last few days before [the Terrier Invitational] and expect to swim really fast then.”
Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected]. Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @devinlippman.
