Sports

UMaine swimmers and divers edged by Boston College

By Dana Bulba

Posted on Jan. 30, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

sarah bigney

JUST KEEP SWIMMING - Members of the UMaine men's swim team compete against Boston College on Saturday at Wallace Pool.

ORONO – The University of Maine women’s swimming and diving team fell to Boston College at this weekend’s swim meet which took place on Friday and Saturday. The team fell by a score of 204-132.

“We knew they were a strong and deep team,” said UMaine head coach Jeff Wren. Overall, he said he was pretty pleased.

The team had a rough first night, with only one first place win from UMaine, by junior Tal Shpaizer in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.67, and spent Saturday playing catch-up. The team won six events that day.

The women’s team picked up their first individual victory on Saturday in the 200 free when freshman Colleen Miller finished with a time of 1:57.76. Miller also took the 500 free with a time of 5:17.25, and was followed by senior Brittany Harrington, who finished second with a time of 5:21.63.

Shpaizer picked up her second individual victory of the meet in the 200 back with a time of 2:08.89. She also took third in the 200 fly with a time of 59.54.

The last individual victory of the day went to sophomore Kiki O’Donnell. She took the 200 breast in 2:29.37. O’Donnell also took second in the 400 IM with a time of 4:39.68, which, said Wren, “was a lifetime best.”

UMaine finished third in the 200 free relay, the last swim event of the meet; it was led by junior Lauren Viles, followed by Shpaizer, Miller, and sophomore Jessie Ellis-Alcaide, with a time of 1:41.05.

Junior Jessica Pratt helped the team by placing second in the one meter diving competition, placing just three points from first. Diver Shannon Scott ended the event early due to an injury.

Wren said the two-day dual meet was a special program he and the BC coach developed last year. He said that allows for different combinations, and is also something different for the swimmers. With this program more swimmers are able to swim in each event. It also allowed for competitors to swim events which otherwise would have been held too close to each other to swim in one single day.

“The main thing is to keep faith in what we’re doing,” said Wren.

UMaine will host their next meet this Thursday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m. against UNH. This will be their last regular season meet before championships.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 30th, 2006, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.