Comebacks and diligent performances were themes of the weekend for the Boston University swim teams, as both traveled to the University of Rhode Island for the squads’ last regular season meet.
The women pulled out a gutsy victory, taming Rhode Island 154-145. The men were not rewarded for their efforts as they fell, 193.5-103.5.
‘Going into this meet, we weren’t sure what the outcome would be,’ said BU men’s and women’s swim coach Reagh Wetmore. ‘But, we knew it would be a challenge.’
The Terrier women (3-5, 3-2 America East) posted a major comeback after falling behind early. The Rams took the first relay race, and the Terriers managed only second and fourth place finishes in the 1000-yard event.
However, the tide turned with a sudden flurry of BU individual victories the Rams were unable to withstand.
Leading the attack with three wins was senior captain Karissa Lopez, who captured the 100-butterfly with a time of 59.25 seconds, the 200-butterfly (2:09.72), and an impressive 200-individual medley (2:11.56).
‘We all performed well today,’ said Lopez. ‘All the girls were very relaxed and we ran good races. We were also pumped because it was our last meet of the regular season, so I think it worked in our favor. We all have so much talent on this team, and we all play really hard.’
Continuing the impressive performances, freshman Natalie Boyd won both the 200 and 500-freestyle with times of 1:58.97 and 5:17.59, respectively, while junior Kelly Sweeting took the 100 and 200-backstroke with times of 1:01.69 and 2:09.78.
Senior Laurie Green also showed dominant form with winning times of 1:09.79 and 2:28.88 respectively, in the 100 and 200-breaststroke. Freshman Meagan Breiland added her own ingredients to the mix by winning the 100-freestyle.
Wetmore also emphasized the outstanding performance of the divers in the victory, as juniors Kristin Stratton (241.13 points) and Stacey Gallacher (225.38) took first and second in the three-meter competition. The pair showed further dominance as Gallacher and Stratton also finished first and second in the one-meter dive with scores of 258.90 and 254.92.
‘We fell behind early, but then we went right after them,’ Wetmore said. ‘Once you get a few wins in a row like that, you know you’re in good shape. We clearly had the momentum. It was just an outstanding performance.’
The men (2-6, 2-2 America East) also put forth an unwavering effort with various key second place finishes that kept them close in the contest. Freshman Mike Kelly (100-freestyle in 47.78), junior Jay Toutan (200-backstroke in 1:59.64 and 100-backstroke in 55.21) and senior Mark Douglas (500-freestyle in 5:01.14) all helped the Terrier rally.
Wetmore showed his approval for the male divers, who made their presence felt by taking first through third in both the three-meter and one-meter events.
Sophomore Victor Paquia won the three-meter event with a score of 278.4, followed by freshman Bryan Martinez (216.4) and junior Dan Brown (216.0).
If that was not enough, redundancy was in order for the one-meter, as Paquia (269.25), Martinez (236.9) and Brown (232.8) had a repeat performance of domination.
Despite their fleeting success, the men’s team raced the wrong team on the wrong day, as Rhode Island dominated the other individual events.
‘We were beaten well,’ Wetmore said. ‘We stayed close and they gave a great effort, but if you don’t win key individual events, you’re not going to have a good day.’
This was the squad’s final meet before the much-anticipated America East Championship to be held Feb. 14-16 at the University of Maine. With strong performances in both victory and defeat, the squads look to be an imposing force on the competition in the tournament.
Even with the high level of confidence, Wetmore looks ahead with careful intentions, and merely wants to focus on getting the job done in crunch time.
‘Many of the other conference programs have been strong this year,’ Wetmore said. ‘With that said, you still can never really say when your team will perform its best. It all depends on the day you’re at the pool.’