Despite three honored swimmers and a number of broken school and conference records for the Boston University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the America East Championships this weekend, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County managed to trump both teams – yet again.
Competing at the University of Maine last Thursday through Sunday, the Terrier women came in second with a total of 685 points – 56 behind UMBC. The BU men improved on last year’s fourth-place finish, managing to grab the second slot with 749 points.
“Our approach has always been to improve the program a little bit each year and to build a championship tradition eventually so that we are constantly in the hunt for a conference championship,” said BU coach Bill Smyth. “Of course, we’d definitely like to eat away at the lead UMBC enjoys a little more next year.”
The BU women scored a first-place spot on the opening day of the championships, and retained the title for three days before the Retrievers overtook them on Sunday.
“To be leading for so long was a bonus for our program,” Smyth said. “We swam very well on the last day, but UMBC swam a little better.”
Graduate student Eric Carlson had an impressive exit from his BU career, breaking two individual school records during the championships. Carlson claimed the 100-yard breaststroke in 55.84 and took second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:05.43, breaking program records in both races.
“Breaking the school records in the breaststroke events was a personal goal of mine all year,” Carlson said. “My goal the entire year was to contribute to the team as much as possible. I pushed myself to do that more than anything else.”
Carlson contributed to another record-breaking time during the 400-yard medley relay along with sophomores Jeff Wurm and Arik Seiler and freshman Matt Rickett. The quartet notched a time of 3:23.15, breaking a BU record previously set in 1990.
The relay team nearly broke the conference record for the 200-yard relay, falling short by .44 of a second.
Sophomore Tyson Slesnick, freshman Kyle Ernst and senior Greg Dierksen placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 400-yard IM.
Junior Eve Kinsella was named Top Women’s Swimmer, and junior divers Tess Waresmith and Andre Watson were honored as top divers.
“Eve is an MVP-type of athlete. She has a championship mentality and the athletic attributes to back it up,” Smyth said. “Individual honors this season have been the result of a great team atmosphere and a positive athletic environment.”
Sophomore Emily Munday claimed an impressive win in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.98 – .05 seconds ahead of the field. The women set a conference record in the 800-yard freestyle relay, supported by Kinsella, sophomores Brigette O’Shaughnessy and Liisa Young and freshman Clara Van Allen, with a time of 7:26.41.
“We were not forecasted to do as well as we did, and yet we still managed to swim our own races and our own meet for each other,” Kinsella said. “We didn’t let anything inhibit our chances of being the best in our conference.”
Smyth said the coaching staff is going to take the same basic approach toward next year’s AE Championships
“I can’t wait for 2008-2009,” he said.