By Jodie Ng, news staff
The Northeastern swimming and diving team cruised to a victory against the University of Vermont (UVM) on Saturday for Senior Day, defeating the Catamounts 175-117.
Senior day, which celebrates the seniors on the squad, includedveteran swimmers Erica DeMunbrun, Jessica Colucci, Megan Foran and Anna Schegoleva.
The home dual meet opened with the 1-meter dive in which freshman Jacquelyn Gover took first place with a score of 286.35. Freshman Caroline Gonsalves and junior Megan Rutter placed second and third respectively, giving the Huskies an early 16-3 lead.
Head Coach Roy Coates said the team was looking to bounce back fromits last meet.
“We didn’t perform as well as we hoped last weekend,” Coates said. “We got a great performance from the team, especially compared to last weekend. There’s a lot of energy when you come into this meet.”
Northeastern finished first and second in the 200-medley relay. The team of freshmen Christine Leong and Sara Touchette-McGowan and sophomores Taylor Ellis and Rachel Green, placed first with a time of 1:44.47. Following them were Schegoleva, freshman Samira Hoesl, DeMunbrun and Colucci, who clocked in at 1:47.01.
Coates has been trying to establish the right fit for team races and said he has almost figured out the best lineups. However, according to him, the real difficulty is deciding who will be heading to championships at the end of February in Richmond, Va., as only 18 of 24 members are allowed to compete.
Continuing with the meet, junior Sophie Browne and Leong were disqualified in the 100-backstroke for swimming in the wrong heat, awarding the Catamounts 16 free points. While it pulled UVM up to 51-39, the Huskies still came out on top after sophomore Delaney Lanker placed first in the 200-butterfly with a time of 2:07:09.
The diving events wrapped up with the 3-meter dive, where Gover earned another first-place victory with a score of 263.75. The entire diving team finished ahead of UVM.
Coates said the diving squad has surpassed his expectations.
“Diving — they’ve surprised me,” Coates said. “We got three freshmen on that squad so not really knowing how good they can be and how they could perform at this level in college, they probably were the biggest surprise [sic].”
The Huskies continued to dominate the Catamounts when Touchette-McGowan brought home a first-place victory in the 100-freestyle. Co-captains Schegoleva and Colucci placed second and fifth respectively and Northeastern continued to lead 106-62.
Entering the last three events of the day, Northeastern continued to bring a strong showing, placing in the top three. Schegoleva placed first in the 100-butterfly with a time of 58.06. DeMunbrun placed third, clocking in at 59.67.
Touchette-McGowan secured her fourth victory in the 200-IM with a time of 2:11.09. Lanker swam to second place with a time of 2:16.09.
The last event of the day was the 200-freestyle relay. UVM placed first with a time of 1:39.15 and Northeastern swimmers Ellis, Hoesl, junior Amanda Liew and Green placed second, just trailing behind the Catamounts with a time of 1:43.77. In the last home-event of their careers, Coates placed the four seniors together. They finished third with a time of 1:41.89.
The meet wrapped up with the Huskies at a comfortable advantage. The team will travel to New Hampshire for the Jan. 23-24 Dartmouth Invitational.
Coates has clear goals as the season moves forward.
“Our goal is to finish top three at championships,” he said. “We really need to figure out how to get each person to perform at their best. We finished, I think, sixth last year and I think it’s realistic to move at least two or three spots.”
Photo by Arzu Martinez
