By Jon Litchfield
Sarah Reddick won two events in her first collegiate meet as the swimming and diving team rode the backstroke of Katie Schmaling to victory over Boston University 173-124 on Saturday at Faneuil Pool.
“It was the first meet so we had a couple of glitches,” said NU head coach Roy Coates. “But I thought we had a great start.”
“In the first meet we see where our strengths are and I can see what changes in training and lineups I’d like to make.”
Schmaling won both backstrokes and swam on the winning 200 medley relay and 400 free relay to narrowly outscore teammate Katie Kane, who won both breaststrokes and combined for the 200 medley relay win.
But the Husky who “shined most” according to Coates, was the freshman Reddick, who won the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly events in her first collegiate meet, away from home nonetheless. Coates said her time of 57.41 in the butterfly was an outstanding time.
“That time probably would have been first at the [America East] Championship last year, so that’s outstanding for her first collegiate meet,” said Coates.
Reddick led the entire way in both events to claim victory and was also runner up in the 200 individual medley.
Schmaling led in the early stages of the 200 backstroke before BU’s Kelli Sweeting was able to pull even. Schmaling finished strongly for the win in 2:12.98 to Sweeting’s 2:14.41. She also won the 100 backstroke by a similar margin.
Katie Kane had a comeback victory in the 200 breaststroke as her sister and teammate, Kristen Kane, was leading after three laps of the eight-lap event. Katie Kane took the lead with two laps to go and left her sister and BU’s Laurie Green fighting for second as she won in 2:28.63. Green placed second at 2:30.34, narrowly edging Kristen Kane’s 2:30.64.
Katie Kane’s 100 breaststroke victory wasn’t nearly as thrilling but just as effective, as she led the whole way for the win, flanked by Kristen Kane in second.
“Katie Kane also had an outstanding meet and won her races in outstanding times,” said Coates.
Last year’s team MVP, Emily White, won the 200 butterfly in sensational fashion. White and BU’s Karissa Lopez swam in a dead heat in lanes three and four throughout the entire race. White was able to take the lead and win with a time of 2:08.19, more than a second faster than Lopez’s 2:09.17.
Sophomore Adela Gavozdea led the Husky divers with a second-place finish in the one meter event and a third in the three meter contest. BU’s Silvia Golle won both events.
“She had a great meet,” Coates said of Gavozdea. “The BU diver [Golle], no exaggeration, has a shot at being national champion this year. She was a member of the German national team.”
The closest BU came to leading the meet was after the third event, the 200 freestyle, which left the score at 28-24 in favor of Northeastern. The four point gap grew quickly as the Huskies outscored the Terriers in the following four events to gain a 40-point lead, leaving no question of the outcome.
