By Christopher Judd, News Correspondent
The swimming and diving team competed in the BU Invitational Nov. 18 to Nov. 20, finishing in second place out of 10 teams with 567.5 points. The meet does not count towards the Huskies overall record, but it did give the team experience for meets that have a similar championship format.
“The BU Invitational was formatted like a championship, which was one of the good reasons to compete,” head coach Roy Coates said. “It was an invitational, which doesn’t count towards our record. In addition, in the morning, swimmers try to qualify for the evening races, where they place. The top eight people are put into the top heat, and they are guaranteed a top eight finish, even if they have the worst time of the race and someone in a different heat has a better time.”
Freshman Anna Schegoleva sided with Coates’ words, saying that the atmosphere the BU invitational created felt like that of a do-or-die event.
“It felt like a championship because ten universities were there. We got second, which is a motivation for future championships,” Schegoleva said. “Coming in second boosted my confidence and gave me motivation to continue training and to keep trying. I want to see what I can accomplish in the rest of my time here.”
Two new school records were set at the meet. Freshman Anna Schegoleva won the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.52, which broke the existing school record by .04 seconds. This is her second school record since she set the record for the 200-yard backstroke at the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) POD Meet Nov. 4-5. Sophomore Adriana Sepulveda won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.80, which also set a new school record, beating the previous time of 4:58.35.
“A new record brings a different accomplishment,” Schegoleva said. “Doing well in math is not the same as doing well in literature. I expected to drop my time because I had worked hard on the 200-yard IM, but I didn’t expect to break the school record. I was excited and really wanted to win. I wanted to improve. I was not trying to break the record, I just tried my best.”
Sophomore Julia Sepulveda finished second in the 200-yard IM, while senior Jill Kearns finished third in the 200-yard IM with times of 2:05.05 and 2:06.64 respectively. Sepulveda later won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:23.18, while Kearns took third with a time of 4:26.87. Kearns also got first place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.63 while Sepulveda took fourth with a time of 2:05.84. Junior Keary McClernan placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:18.88.
Freshman Deidre Esposito claimed first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.83. The team of freshmen Schegoleva, Esposito, and juniors Nicole Colucci and Chelsea Lim placed fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with a time 1:37.17.
“The freshman class has been impressive,” Coates said. “They’re a stellar group that we hadn’t seen compete. We knew what our upper classmen were capable of, but we have been surprised by the caliber of the freshmen.”
Schegoleva, who has already set two school records in her first year alone, said despite her inexperience with the NU swim team she understands the significance of her team’s performance.
“Placing second in the BU invitational was a big accomplishment,” she said. “Last year we were nowhere near coming in second. Our goal was to beat BU because of the rivalry. Other years, they have always beaten us. But this year, we got second. This year has been about changing how the team functions, training harder, and team building. We have made many strides.”
Northeastern’s next swimming and diving meet is Saturday against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. After that, the squad doesn’t have any meets until Jan. 14.
“We’re in goosd shape,” Coates said. “We should fare well through the rest of the season. I think we will win more matches than we will lose for the rest of the year. These competitions are going to help set us up for the conference championship. This meet allowed us to address our needs. We were able to examine our strengths and weaknesses. It was a huge learning experience, where we learned more about race strategy, who performs best in what event, and how to deal with pressure.”
