The Northeastern swimming and diving team met Sept. 23 for its Black vs. Red Intrasquad Meet at the Cabot Center’s Barletta Natatorium during the Northeastern Swimming and Diving Alumni Weekend to ramp up for this year’s season.
The swimming and diving team is coming off of a successful year, ending the 2022-23 season with an overall 6-2 record. They also placed third, with 527.5 points, at the 2023 Coastal Athletic Association Championships, the best finish in program history.
The meet showcased the skills of veteran members and introduced newer members’ abilities in a competitive setting.
Alumni Weekend offered all swimming and diving alumni the opportunity to reconnect, meet and compete with the current swimming and diving team. Competing alumni were Kelly Cheng (2018-2021), David Govoni (1993-1996) and Julie Dickison (1994-1999).
The meet split the current team and alumni into two squads — red and black, with each group competing to earn the most points. Events at the meet consisted of breaststroke; individual medley, or IM; freestyle; butterfly and backstroke for swimming and 1- and 3-meter dives.
Despite the gloomy weather, the energy inside the natatorium stayed high, with both teams chanting and cheering the entire time. Competing alumni returned to the pool lanes, receiving support from both squads and the audience. Dickinson swam the 200- and 100-yard freestyle. Cheng swam the 50-yard freestyle alongside Govoni. Govoni made it to the 100-yard IM and the 50-yard butterfly finals, competing against two other swimmers in each event.
The swimming events displayed the team’s speed and agility in the lanes while the diving events showcased the team’s aerial skill, capturing the audience’s attention as they swam, splashed, flipped, dove and cleanly broke the water’s surface.
Concluding the meet, the red squad emerged victorious, beating out the black squad.
This meet helped the team prepare for the start of the official season, including the first meet at Rutgers Oct. 6-7.
The Huskies opened their season at Rutgers’ pre-season tune-up, along with Delaware, Harvard University, George Washington University and the United States Military Academy West Point over the two-day meet. Northeastern placed first in two events; Kotoko Blair, a sophomore freestyle swimmer, placed first in the 50-yard freestyle Oct. 6 and Hannah Steward, a junior butterfly/IM swimmer, placed first in the 100-yard butterfly Oct. 7.
The Huskies’ next swimming and diving meet will be Oct. 27 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
