SWIMMING & DIVING NOTEBOOK
The Vermont women’s swimming & diving team travels to Worcester, Massachusetts from Thursday (Feb. 11) to Sunday (Feb. 14) for four days of competition at the 2016 America East Championships, hosted at WPI’s Sports & Recreation Center.
Events are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday night with the 1-meter dive and will conclude on Sunday night. Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with finals starting at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Live results are available throughout the meet, and a live video stream can be accessed for free each day of the competition through AmericaEast.TV. For links to the video streams, please visit the America East Championship Central page below.
RELATED LINKS
Championship Central | Schedule of Events | Live Results
SNAPCHAT TAKEOVER
The swimming & diving team will be taking over Vermont Athletics’ Snapchat account for this week’s America East Championships, beginning on Wednesday when the squad travels to Worcester. Fans can follow the Catamounts on Snapchat with the username uvm_athletics.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
“I feel that our ladies have prepared themselves all season and are ready to compete at a high level. I am proud of each and every one and I am excited to see them compete.” – Gerry Cournoyer
ABOUT VERMONT
The Catamounts enter the championship meet with a 6-3 overall record. Vermont posted a 164-136 victory over Rhode Island in its last scoring meet on Jan. 23 at the Tootell Aquatics Center, winning nine of the 16 events against the Rams. UVM was victorious in three of its four home dual meets this season, winning those three competitions by an average of 64 points. The Catamounts went 2-1 against America East competition, beating both Maine and Binghamton while falling on the road to New Hampshire.
WEEKLY HONORS
The Catamounts won a total of six America East weekly awards this season. Maggie Preston was named the conference’s Diver of the Week on four separate occasions, and won the honor after sweeping both diving events on Senior Day against Northeastern on Jan. 18. Shannon Cowley was named the Swimmer of the Week following the same meet after winning the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard IM, while taking second in the 100 breast. Christa Weaver earned Swimmer of the Week honors after winning a pair of freestyle events at URI with times just off NCAA ‘B’ qualifying.
COWLEY COMPETES AT U.S. NATIONALS
Cowley also competed individually for UVM in the 100 breaststroke at the AT&T U.S. Winter National Championships on Dec. 4 at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. The sophomore was competing for a chance to post a qualifying time for the Olympic trials for the 2016 Summer Games. She placed 74th overall with a time of 1:15.28 after entering the competition as the 84th-ranked swimmer.
2015 CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
At last year’s America East Championships in Worcester, Vermont set a program record with 662 points and matched its highest finish with a third place showing for the third consecutive year. UMBC took home the conference title with 791 points, edging out the previous year’s champion New Hampshire (777). UVM topped its old record of 640 points, which was set at the 2014 America East Championships.
Preston was named the America East Most Outstanding Diver of the meet, becoming the first Catamount ever to win the award. Preston claimed the title in the 3-meter diving event with a score of 256.95 and placed fourth overall in the 1-meter event. A pair of swimmers also earned America East All-Conference honors for UVM after posting top-three individual finishes at the championships.
Swimming news courtesy of Vermont Swimming & Diving.