By Jessica Geller, deputy sports editor
Northeastern swimming and diving competed in a quad meet at George Mason University (GMU) this weekend, but as far as the Huskies were concerned, the strongest competition at the meet was Towson University. NU finished the two-day race 2-1 with wins over GMU and College of Charleston and a loss to Towson.
Senior co-captain Anna Schegoleva and sophomore Taylor Ellis led the Huskies with a total of three individual first-place finishes.
Schegoleva, a backstroke, butterfly and individual medley (IM) specialist, finished first in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. She is undefeated in the four backstroke events she has swum in this season. In the 200-yard IM, Schegoleva finished in 2:06.96 for third place.
“She’s our leader as far as talent goes,” Head Coach Roy Coates said. “She was really talented when she got here and is now even better.”
Schegoleva, originally from Cyprus, will compete in the 2014 World Swimming Short Course Championships in December in Doha, Qatar.
Ellis’ best finish came in one of her specialty races – breaststroke. She won the 100-yard race in 1:03.22, 0.13 seconds ahead of Towson’s junior Jenna Van Camp. Van Camp got Ellis back in the 200-yard breaststroke race, completing the laps three seconds before Ellis’s 2:20.85. Northeastern freshman Samira Hoesl came in third, one second behind Ellis.
In the 500-yard freestyle race, Ellis finished 10 seconds behind Towson sophomore Macey Arnold for second place.
Towson and Northeastern competition carried over into three of the four team relays. Friday’s 400-yard medley relay team of Schegoleva, Ellis, freshman Sara Touchette-McGowan and sophomore Rachel Green finished one second after the Tigers in 3:47.64. The Huskies had the lead until the final lap when Towson’s senior anchor Amanda Barber outpaced Green.
Hoesl was the only change for the 200-yard medley relay Saturday, as swimmers can only compete in four races. Coates recognized that the team might have lost time but decided to utilize Ellis in other races. The Huskies were neck and neck with the Tigers the entire race, but NU still finished one second slower than Towson with 1:45.79.
Ellis, followed by Hoesl, co-captain senior Megan Foran and Green, competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay to close out the meet. Once again, NU could not catch Towson’s tails, finishing in 3:33.97, three seconds behind first place.
“It was great to see conference competition,” Coates said. “We started sluggish on Friday and then got better every session. We played catch-up against GMU on Saturday and were able to hold our own against the College of Charleston.”
On Friday, the women’s diving team started where they left off last weekend at Northeastern’s Barletta Natatorium. Freshman Alyssa Seales dove for a 253.80 in the 3-meter diving event, good enough for third place. Freshman Caroline Consalves, junior Megan Rutter and freshman Jacquelyn Gover all finished in the top eight.
The 1-meter diving event occurred Saturday. Gover scored a 259.05 for third place, with Gonsalves right behind her with a score of 249.98. Towson and Northeastern took the top eight spots in both diving events.
The swimming and diving team hits the blocks next on Friday at Brown University.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
