In its final home meet of the season, the UNH swimming and diving team beat the University of Rhode Island 173-122 in a dual meet on Saturday afternoon at Swasey Pool. Junior Liza Baykova once again paved the way with four first-place finishes, three of which were individual. The Wildcats won 14 of 16 events.
“This was a great meet for us, the team is swimming exceptionally well,” head coach Josh Willman said.
Baykova, who has been one of the Wildcats’ top swimmers in the early meets this season, had another record-breaking performance in the pool over the weekend. She has placed first in more than one event in every meet so far this season.
“[Baykova] shattered the pool record in the 200[-yard freestyle] that she set in the last part of the season last February by over two seconds,” Willman said.
Baykova won the event with a time of one minute, 48.11- seconds, beating her previous mark. While Baykova ranks 19th in the nation in that event, she was able to win the 50-yard freestyle at 23.90 seconds and the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.74 seconds.
Liza Baykova prepares for a race during Saturday’s meet.
The Wildcats successfully placed first in the 400-yard medley relay as Sarah Broderick, Sarah Olver, Colby Harvey and Brittany Moffatt swam a time of 3:56.71. UNH also won another relay, this time being the 200-yard freestyle led by Broderick, Kaitlin Cahill, Corinne Carbone and Baykova with a time of 1:38.05.
In the long distance events, the Wildcats swam to two first-place finishes. These included the 500-yard freestyle, where Broderick topped the leaderboard with a time of 5:05.54. In the 1,000-yard freestyle, Moffatt continued to shine and improve her personal records as she swam past her competitors with a winning time of 10:41.46.
The 200-meter events provided some sensational swimming by Vivienne El-Sibay and Carbone. El-Sibay won the butterfly with a time of 2:06.97, while Harvey took first in the 100-yard butterfly touching the wall at 56.41. In the 200-backstroke, Carbone won with a time of 2:06.65. Willman recognizes that everyone is swimming with a lot of momentum early on in the season.
Sarah Olver contributed to Saturday’s win with a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:23.33, her first solo win of the season.
“Everyone is swimming faster than they were at this point last year,” Willman said. Vivi and Colby both posted in-season bests as did Carbone and others so we are all pleased and gearing up for the BU invite in two weeks,” Willman said.
Other notable winners include Harvey taking the 200 individual medley in 2:07.61 and the 200 breaststroke in which Olver won in 2:23.33.
Allison Stefanelli was the one to pace the ‘Cats on the diving board. She won the 3-meter dive with an overall score of 263.77 points. Stefanelli has placed in the Top-3 in every 3-meter dive thus far in the season.
UNH returns to the pool on Friday, Nov. 18 for day one of the three-day Terrier Invitational at Boston University. The invitational is the last event of the 2016 part of the schedule for UNH.
