By: Jimmy Brooks, News Correspondent
The swimming & diving team started its season with a victory, sinking the University of Vermont (UVM) 165-124 last Saturday. The Huskies took control of the meet early, winning eight of the first nine events.
“The team’s performance, especially early on, was very exciting, and is very promising,” senior swimmer Erica Smotrycz said. “It was our first home meet and we were able to start strong. To start the season off like this is definitely uplifting, especially with our high hopes.”
Smotrycz, who missed all of last season with a torn hip labrum, won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle, posting times of 24.67 and 53.94.
“When we saw the times posted at the inter-squad [meet] last week, we felt pretty confident coming in,” Smotrycz said. “We did some head-to-head comparisons of times against UVM in the days leading up, and we felt like we had a pretty strong chance, assuming everything went well in our individual events.”
Head coach Roy Coates, entering his 18th season with the team, said he felt confident going into the season opener.
“We had about six weeks of training before the meet,” Coates said. “So I was looking forward to see how they performed.”
Coates said he was pleased with the performance by the team’s 12 new recruits Saturday.
Newcomer Dana Schleif posted a time of 59.57 seconds to win the 100-yard backstroke event, and fellow freshman Julia Alvarez won both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, posting times 1:05.37 and 2:25.67, respectively.
“I don’t know if I can remember a class of this size coming in here,” Coates said. “We have a very young team, 12 freshmen and seven sophomores, so obviously we’re very excited to see them perform at the level they performed at; they played a large part in the win.”
Smotrycz said she was also encouraged by the effort of the freshmen, and believes the leadership of the upperclassmen can pull everything together.
“We’re really fortunate to have this team, especially with all the young talent,” Smotrycz said. “The leadership of the more seasoned swimmers brings everything full circle, and really drives the team to succeed.”
The victory sets the Huskies on the right track toward their season goals, primarily moving up in the conference standings, Coates said.
“The goal is to move up in the conference, and to climb the standings,” Coates said. “We need to make improvements in comparison to last year’s final results.”
Last season, the team placed eighth out of nine in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships.
Although Vermont is not a part of the Colonial Athletic Conference, the Huskies look to carry the momentum from the win into the first conference match against James Madison University Nov. 6.
The Huskies have nearly a two-week hiatus from competition before they head across town to Boston College to take on the Eagles Oct. 29.
