By Chris Judd, News Correspondent
The Northeastern swimming and diving team beat Drexel University 206-94, but lost to the University of Delaware 155-145 in a dual meet on Saturday in Philadelphia.
“Everyone performed well,” sophomore Anna Schegoleva said. “We had a great race, everyone put in a lot of effort.”
Sophomore Megan Foran and junior Julia Sepulveda grabbed first and second in the 200-meter freestyle with times of 1:54.63 and 1:54.90. Foran also claimed second in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:07.25, which was two seconds under her season best.
Schegloeva won the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 57.69 and the 200-meter backstroke with 2:05.77. She also took second in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:11.33.
Junior Julia Alvarez, senior Keary McClernan and sophomore Deidre Esposito swept the 100-meter breaststroke, taking the first three places with respective times of 1:05.85, 1:07.37 and 1:07.71. These times were a season best for McClernan and Esposito. McClernan also won the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:24.61. Alvarez finished in second with 2:26.45.
In the 200-meter butterfly, junior Allie Gielowski took second (2:07.71) and sophomore Erica DeMunbrun took third (2:07.94). Senior Kelley Becherer finished fourth in the 100-meter free (53.64), less than one second behind the first place finish. Gielowski won the 100-meter butterfly with 58.46. DeMunbrun took third with a time of 58.67.
Junior Candace Young earned third place in the meter dive with 230.30 and third in the three-meter dive with 235 points.
Schegoleva, Alvarez, DeMunbrun and Becherer finished second in the 200-meter medley relay with 1:48.28. Foran, Adriana Sepulveda, Becherer and Julia Sepulveda swam a 3:35.32, good for second in the 400-meter relay.
“The meet was very competitive,” assistant coach Katie McCann said. “We knew that our rival Delaware would be difficult, and we just fell a little short. The girls performed well and set themselves up for future meets. We won a lot of the events, it just came down to some fourth and fifth places. The whole team really stepped up.”
The Huskies also went on a training trip to Puerto Rico over the winter break. Most Northeastern swimming teams have training trips to the Caribbean for a change of scenery and some serious training.
“Puerto Rico was great,” McCann said. “The team did an excellent job of handling the double practices, and trained really hard. It was also a good trip to bond before the toughest training month, which is January.”
The Huskies know the season will be difficult, but they’re ready for it.
“Puerto Rico was a hard, successful trip,” Foran said. “When we put in hard work, we’ll be able to look back at the end of the season with pride. The trip also helped with team bonding. … January will be tough training, but Puerto Rico prepared us for it.”
The Huskies are preparing for the CAA Championship meet at the end of February. Most of the meets they have throughout the year are to help them train, since every team automatically gets into the championships.
“Our main goal is to do better than last year at the championships,” McCann said. “We’re on track for this based on our girls’ times. The whole team is swimming better this year than they were at the end of last year.”
For swimmers and divers, the toughest part of the later season is staying motivated for competition through long months of training.
“Our goal is to stay motivated,” Schegoleva said. “We have to keep competing. If everyone stays in spirit and we continue to push our limits, we should reach our goals.”
The Huskies’ next meet is Saturday at noon at Barletta Natatorium on campus. The team will recognize head coach Roy Coates’ 20 years with the team and will also have its senior day.
