UNC Asheville vs East Carolina
- October 1, 2021
- Asheville, N.C.
- Results (PDF)
Courtesy: UNC Asheville Athletics
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville swimming and diving team opened its 2021-22 dual meet season on a high note defeating ECU by a score of 174-124 Friday evening.
Overall, the Bulldogs earned nine first-place finishes on Friday, winning seven individual events along with both relay contests. Asheville bookended the meet with victories in the 200-yard medley relay (1:46.96) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:37.08).
The seven event wins for Asheville came via five different Bulldogs. The tandem of Nora Segurola Larrinaga (100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke) and Delaney Carlton (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle) each won a pair of events. Additionally, freshmen Caitlin Hefner (1000-yard freestyle), Riley Edmundson (200-yard butterfly), and Chloe McDonald (100-yard butterfly) all notched their first collegiate event wins as well.
“I thought we did a really good job,” said Jessie Frank afterward. “Our biggest motto is that we want a Bulldog cap to touch first. No matter if it’s yourself or a teammate, you need to be equally excited for it. I thought we did a great job keeping the energy up for the whole meet and kept fighting to the finish.”
In the diving portion of the meet, the Bulldogs placed second and third in a pair of one-meter diving events. Morgan Coughlen logged point totals of 195.40 and 193.30 in her first collegiate meet. Jade Canady, meanwhile, notched the most points of any Bulldog diver totaling 200 points in the final event of the day from the Jewish Community Center in Asheville.
Overall, Friday’s victory continues a string of stellar success for the Bulldogs in dual meets. Since November 2019, the Bulldogs have tallied a record of 8-1-1 in dual meets, including an impressive 6-1-1 mark in meets held in Asheville.
The Bulldogs will return to action on October 15 when they compete in a tri-meet against Gardner-Webb and Bellarmine. This meet, which will take place at Gardner-Webb, is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start time.
Courtesy: East Carolina Athletics
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A trio of East Carolina swimmers and divers in Flanary Patterson, Caitlin Reynera and Polina Rukosuev each claimed individual wins in the 2021 season opening event at UNC Asheville Friday night. The Pirates, who were competing in their first collegiate event in nearly 18 months, fell to the Bulldogs 174-124.
“Proud of the energy the ladies brought to the meet today” head coach Matt Jabs said. “They never gave up on themselves, competed like true Pirates. We never enjoy losing, but these are the lumps we will have to take as we rebuild the program. Hats off to Asheville as they did what they were supposed to do and swam well and took the win.”
Reynera, a junior transfer from Alabama, won three events in her first event in the Purple and Gold taking the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04:85), 200-yard breaststroke (2:18:34) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:11:23) titles.
Fellow classmate and Alabama transfer Polina Rukosuev won the 200-yard (1:56:20) and 500-yard freestyle (5:07:46) for her first wins at East Carolina.
Flanary Patterson, a sophomore from Kentucky, won a pair of diving titles with scores of 233:65 and 230:50 and giving the Pirates seven on the evening.
ECU will return the pool on Friday, Oct. 8 when it travels to Campbell before hosting its lone meet of the season on Saturday, Oct. 9 hosting Chowan and Barton in a swimming tri-meet along with Richmond and UNCW in diving meets.