This past weekend four UNH swimmers competed in ECAC Championship and the Navy Long Course Invitational. The Wildcats walked away from the weekend claiming five total medals, two of which were gold.
Sophomore Anna Metzler continued her dominance in the pool as she was named swimmer of the meet bringing home the gold in the 400 IM setting an America East, ECAC Championship and school record with a time of 4:07.20. This was the 17th fastest time in the nation.
Coach Josh Willman has been amazed at what Metzler has been able to do this season and can’t wait to see what she’ll do in NCAA Championships.
“She was the only one at the meet who made NCAA [Championships] and there was a lot of schools there with fast swimmers, so that speaks to how talented she is,” he added. “She was able to break Katie Mann’s record so that’s a real special moment here.”
This was senior Corinne Carbone’s last ECAC and she was able to win the gold in the 200 IM and the silver in the 400 IM just behind Metzler. Carbone has been a crucial part of UNH’s team for four years now and she is going to be missed by the entire team and coaching staff.
“Corinne is going to miss swimming a lot and we are going to miss her a lot. Her versatility was second to none and she could score in any event,” coach Willman said.
First-year swimmers Jamy Lum and Olivia Stille also competed and were able to win the other two medals for the team. Lum earned two silver medals as she placed second in the 200 IM and the 100 breast. Sweden native, Stille, placed seventh in her first ECAC Championship in the 50 free.
Coach Willman had high hopes for the first-year swimmers and was pleased with how they performed overall.
“That was Jamy’s best time by four seconds, so that was fun for her. I’m excited for her for the next few years, she made NCAA B-cuts and was able to drop two seconds on her time in the breast,” he noted. “I’m pretty confident she’ll make NCAA [Championships] within the next two years.”
Meanwhile, he had only good things to say about Stille and her progress here.
“She swam well. She just landed here in January and wasn’t able to have a full year in our program under her belt, so these last two meets she learned a lot and we learned a lot about what works. We are just beginning to crack the surface with her.”
With so many young swimmers performing so well it can be exciting to look forward to next season, but there is still one more hurdle to jump. Metzler was selected to compete in NCAA Championships in the 200 and 400 IM. The meet will take place in Athens, Georgia on March 18-21. She is the only swimmer in the top 20 not from a power-five conference and is the first time UNH will be represented at the NCAA Championships since Katie Mann did in 2015 in her third straight year. This will only mark the 10th time in UNH history that a swimmer will compete at the Division I NCAA Championships.
