By Kevin Williamson
Elena Alvarez is just a freshman, but after her strong showing in the Northeastern swimming team’s season-opening win at Boston University, she may soon acquire a veteran-like role on the team.
Alvarez set a new school record of 2:20.86 in the 200-yard breaststroke as the Huskies swam to a 167.5-137.5 point win over BU Sunday.
“I wasn’t looking for anything groundbreaking,” said Alvarez, who averages a time of 2:24.
She has centered her training around the 100-yard breaststroke, so the record-breaking race was unexpected.
Alvarez also took first in the 100-yard breast, third in the 200-yard individual medley and swam the second leg of the first place 200-yard medley relay team.
“Elena’s record-breaking race was huge,” coach Roy Coates said. “If she had finished second the meet would have come [down] to the last event.”
Freshman Alexandra Doty also had a successful debut, delivering 40 points. First place showings in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly combined with 22 points she earned by swimming the first leg of both the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay helped sink BU’s efforts.
Monica Hubbard received total judge scores of 191.5, Brooks Wallace scored 212.25, and 220.20 was awarded to Brittany Gilles. Together the dive trio earned six points but couldn’t keep pace with BU’s 12.
Seniors Sarah Reddick and Emily Crookall-Nixon rounded out the Huskies’ first place showings with a combined 27 points. Reddick made a strong showing in both the 100 and 50-yard freestyle sprints. Crookall-Nixon beat out junior teammate Tarah Rodriguez in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:09.71.
“The girls certainly succeeded,” Coates said. “Their performance was so good and so consistent that they were able to beat BU.”
Northeastern’s next meet will span two days and feature three opponents, host Old Dominion with Delaware and William ‘ Mary. The meet will be the Huskies’ first taste of the competition in their new conference, the Colonial Athletic Association.
