By Patrick McHugh, News Staff

If there is one word that summarizes the current theme of the swimming & diving team, it would undoubtedly be motivation.
Coming off what both head coach Roy Coates and junior Rachel Mondello called a somewhat disappoining fifth-place finish at the Terrier Invitational Nov. 20 to 22, the squad was motivated to perform better. The team did so by defeating the University of Massachussets-Amherst 174-123 Saturday at Barletta Natatorium. The victory puts the Huskies at 4-3 on the season.
Mondello said the writing was on the wall.
‘We really wanted to pull it all together,’ Mondello said. ‘Coming back off the Thanksgiving break, we all trained really hard and set goals which we put on the bulletin board for ourselves. The seniors had never lost to Umass-Amherst and we wanted to keep that streak going as well.’
Head coach Roy Coates said competing against UMass, which finished third at the Terrier Invitational, for a second time, provided incentive to perform better in the re-match.
‘The biggest thing I think is the fact that we went to the invite at BU, and at that meet UMass beet us,’ Coates said. ‘So the thing that stands out to me is that we were able to come back, regroup, and even though they were ahead of us at the invite, we were able to pretty handily beat them in our own building.’
Mondello led the way for the Huskies Saturday, as the coaching staff named her swimmer of the meet. Mondello finished first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.16 seconds, and came in third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.76.
Mondello, a native of Stoneham, said the opportunity to perform well at home meant a lot to her.
‘I felt strong, which was great,’ Mondello said. ‘I like the home meets because my family gets to see me compete, which is nice. My team was very supportive of me the whole day and pushed me. It was definitely something I’ll remember throughout my college career.’
Senior co-captain Kathrine Fugge also stood out Saturday, winning three individual events and taking a leg of a relay win as well. Fugge won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.27, the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.37 and the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.93. Fugge combined with junior Sarah Martin, freshmen Nicole Colucci, and Keary McClernan to win the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:51.47.
There were also six other first-place finishes for NU during the meet. McClernan won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.12, while senior Emily Sutliff won both the 500-yard freestyle in 5:14.59, and the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:42.09. Sophomore Jill Kearns won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:09.18 and senior Natalia Snegour won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:11.60. On the diving side, sophomore Rachel Peterson took the 3-meter diving event by earning a score of 227.31.
While motivation played a big part in the win over UMass, it will also play a big part in the team’s success moving forward. With the semester ending and the holiday break upcoming, the team will not have another competition until January. As members of the team go home to enjoy the company of friends and family during the holidays, Coates said he hopes training will remain on their minds.
‘The biggest thing I tell the kids is that they need to go home and train,’ Coates said. ‘It’s important that while they’re home on Christmas Break that they lift and run and swim, so that’s really important, because they need to maintain their conditioning and their fitness and be ready to compete.’
Mondello said each member of the team has to motivate herself over the break to train hard and stay in shape. She said the pressure to represent the school is enough for her.
‘You try to remember stuff from practices and what you worked on and apply it yourself,’ Mondello said. ‘You know what is expected of you, so you just have to go out and do it. You represent Northeastern in a way and you don’t want to let anyone down, so that is a motivating point right there.’
From Jan. 2 to 8 the team will travel to Ponce, Puerto Rico, but it’s not necessarily a vacation. Coates said the trip is a ‘bonding experience’ as the athletes train hard for a week to prepare for the second half of the season.
Mondello re-inforced the fact that while travelling to Puerto Rico over the break is nice, the team has a mindset of training.
‘The message is definitely to work hard,’ Mondello said. ‘Right when we get to Puerto Rico we go right to the pool, we don’t even get to check into the hotel first, so it’s definitely a’ serious trip.’
The team will have a meet against Seton Hall Jan. 8 while in Puerto Rico. The first meet of the spring semester will be Jan. 18 at the University of New Hampshire.