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The University of Maine men’s and women’s swimming teams took the week off after suffering dual defeats by the University of New Hampshire Wildcats Feb 5. The men fell 168-123, while the women lost by a score of 173-112. Despite some great personal performances, the Black Bears were unable to hang on for the win.
“We ended up being down a couple for health reasons,” UMaine head coach Jeff Wren said of his teams’ performances.
“We had some people do remarkable jobs, but overall it wasn’t the best time we’ve had there,” said Wren.
According to Wren, the Wildcats shaved down for this meet, which is when the swimmers shave their bodies and wear skin suits to cut down on friction in the water. This is the second time this season a team went against the Black Bears in this way.
“We had to deal with it against Providence, and we came back after winter break and beat them,” said Wren.
For the men’s side, Andrew Magiera led the way with two wins in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medely with times of 4:54.37 and 2:04.48, respectively. Freshman Michael Goede continued to show promise after last week’s wins at Boston College and picked up three second places and three best times in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke. Isaac Forbes, also a freshman, was second in both the one-meter and three-meter dive events. Forbes has repeatedly shown consistency under any condition, and did so again facing one of the best divers in the conference, Wildcat Chris Johnstone.
For the women, Brittany Harrington and Kiki O’Donnell started off the individual events with sparks. Harrington, a junior, blazed a 15-second personal record in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:35.26, good enough for second place. In the same race, O’Donnell achieved her own personal best as well, swimming in a time of 11:04.82. Tal Sphaizer grabbed another first place for the Black Bears in the 100-yard butterfly, taking the race in a time of 59.10. Sphaizer was being chased by UMaine’s Karin Feldman who got second place in the event. Racking up another win was the sophomore from Mississippi, Megan Wolters, who won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:14.17. Jessica Pratt held strong in the women’s diving events, placing second in the one meter dive and third in the three-meter dive.
With the conference championship coming up in two weeks, Wren displayed only confidence from his teams’ performances.
“Our whole diving group has been really coming around. We may have the deepest team in the conference,” Wren said.
A new element that is going to surface for the Black Bears is having to travel to the conference championship.
“The thing that will be different is we won’t be home,” said Wren, “but that’s just the way it is.”
In years past, UMaine has hosted the meet, but this year it will be held in Baltimore, Maryland. “Our main goal is to go there and swim well,” said Wren.
Wren believes the losses this past weekend will not be forgotten. “It is going to add good incentive to go after them in the conference meet,” said Wren. “This is what we do the whole year for.”
Bangor Daily News