The Vermont women’s swimming & diving team returns to action this weekend when it travels to Boston to compete in the Terrier Invitational from Friday (Nov. 20) to Sunday (Nov. 22) against Fairfield, Boston University, Boston College, Army, Soka, Bridgeport, Colgate, and UMass. Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. each day at BU with finals starting at 6 p.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
TERRIER SUCCESS
Two seasons ago, UVM won the Terrier Invitational following a strong final day of competition. The Catamounts claimed first place in the six-team invitational hosted by Boston University after jumping out to an early advantage on day one, and holding on to the top spot for the following two nights. Vermont closed out the third day of the invitational by setting a new UVM varsity record in the 400 free relay. The squad of Courtney Gray, Sarah Mantz,Christa Weaver and Diane Brown clocked in at 3:27.57 to win the event and shatter the previous school mark of 3:29.14.
CATS SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS
UVM swept the America East weekly awards on Tuesdayafternoon. Kelly Lennon was named the conference’s Swimmer of the Week, while Maggie Preston took home her fourth Diver of the Week award this season. The duo led the Catamounts to a pair of convincing wins over the weekend against Central Connecticut State and Bryant.
Lennon registered a pair of individual wins at Central Connecticuton Saturday in the both the 200 free by two seconds in 1:53.54 and the 500 free by four seconds in 5:13.68. The sophomore followed that performance by winning the 200 free (1:53.71) and dominating the 500 free (5:14.20) by more than nine seconds on Sunday at home against Bryant.
Preston won three of her four diving events over the weekend. She swept the diving events at CCSU on Saturday, posting a score of 246.22 in the 1-meter and collecting 233.62 points to win the 3-meter. Against Bryant on Sunday, Preston narrowly won the 1-meter diving event with 237.96 points and claimed second in the 3-meter event with a total of 235.34.
FOUR IN A ROW
The Catamounts have won four consecutive meets by an average of nearly 72 points to improve to 5-2 on the season. Vermont broke the Central Connecticut State pool record in the 200 free relay last Saturday in 1:37.07 with Sarah Mantz, Kira Hancock,Courtney Gray, and Christa Weaver.
The team of Courtney Gray, Shannon Cowley, Audrey Shenkin, and Christa Weaver then set a new pool record in the 200-yard medley relay on Sunday in a home win against Bryant with a time of 1:46.64. The four-meet winning streak began with back-to-back 70-point victories at Forbush Natatorium over Siena and Maine.
WHO’S NEXT
Vermont travels to the pacific northwest in two weekends to compete in the AT&T Nationals in Federal Way, Washington fromThursday, Dec. 3 to Sunday, Dec. 6. The Catamounts will then break for the holidays before hosting Northeastern on Monday, Jan. 18 in Burlington.
Swimming news courtesy of Vermont Swimming & Diving.