By Craig Roman
After a 6-0 start, the 2005 Northeastern swimming and diving team finished the season with an overall record of 6-4 and 3-1 in the conference. Coach Roy Coates sees an injury-plagued season and schedule that included the best teams the Northeast has to offer as reasons for his team’s late-season stumbling.
“Physically, our team has been a mess. It is one of those years that virtually the entire team has had a significant injury,” Coates said. “Since September, our team has visited the emergency room 20 times and Lane Health Center well over 50 times. These [injuries/illnesses] have caused us to be fragmented all season. Our competition in the month of January has been excellent. Harvard, BC, Columbia and UNH represent the best swimming schools in the Northeast.”
In their final meet of the season the Huskies lost for the fourth straight time Thursday at the hands of Boston College, 174-126.
Emily Crookall-Nixon started things off for the Huskies, when she was able to hold off Mari Wunschel (27.71) of BC in a close 200-yard freestyle (1:58.28). Senior Kelly McIsaac swam a very strong final lap to finish fifth (2:01.87). Crookall-Nixon would later finish second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:10.72).
In the most exciting race of the night, Crookall-Nixon was edged out by three one-hundredths of a second in the 200-yard individual medley by Carolyn Bowan (2:11.94).
In another close race, senior Kristen Kane was able to pull off a win in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.95), with freshman Delia DeFau finishing fourth (1:12.04). Kane also finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:26.45).
The Huskies were able to keep the meet close thanks in large part to terrific performances in the one and three-meter dives by senior Adela Gavozdea. Gavozdea won both events, 265.43 and 257.03 respectively. In both diving events the team placed three divers in the top five.
In the one-meter, Talisin Polhemus came in third, followed by Brittany Gilles in fourth, 248.40 and 225.15 respectively. In the three-meter dive, the pair finished fourth and fifth, with Polhemus in fourth (237.75) and Gilles in fifth (222.75).
Freshman Coryn Voels absolutely dominated the 500-yard freestyle, winning the race by more than eight seconds over Kim Garcia of BC (5:13.66). Teammate Sara Underwood finished fourth (5:25.01).
Junior Sarah Reddick won the 100-yard butterfly, running away (57.83). Freshman Kara Lane finished in third (1:00.97) and sophomore Katy Turner finished in a close fifth place (1:01.26). Earlier in the evening Reddick finished second in the 50-yard freestyle (25.09), just over one second behind Liz Byron of BC.
In the 1000-yard freestyle, sophomore Kerby Lewis posted the fastest first lap time but eventually fell behind to finish second (10:53.87) to eventual race winner Garcia of BC.
In the 100-yard backstroke, senior captain Katie Schmaling finished second (1:00.78), followed by Voels in third (1:01.76).
In the final race of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Schmaling, McIsaac, Voels and Reddick finished second, just one second behind the BC team.
The team now heads off to the America East conference championships at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Feb. 18-20. Despite the four meet losing streak, Coates said he feels this team is more than capable of bringing another championship banner back to Northeastern.
“Even though we have lost four straight,
