The University of Maine men’s swimming team traveled to New York University (NYU) this past weekend to compete in the NYU invitational. The Black Bears looked to rebound quickly after a close loss at Providence last weekend.
Maine had a tough couple of days in the pool, but managed two third place finishes throughout the meet. A bright spot on the weekend came from the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Maine team included first-year swimmers Coulter Morrill and Justin Hafner, as well as second-year swimmers Nick Sundquist and Matt England. The relay team finished in third place of out six teams, coming in with a time of 1:28.85.
One Maine swimmer in particular who had not only a solid two days in the pool, but a solid season as well, was Sundquist. He has had an outstanding year in the pool individually, and in relays, Sundquist has finished by breaking two individual school records in the 100-yard freestyle and in the 100-yard butterfly. Sundquist also broke one school record as a part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team. Sundquist placed third over the weekend with his 200-yard freestyle relay team, and he also individually placed third out of eight swimmers in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:57.31. With it only being his second year on the team, Sundquist’s potential is still untapped, and he still has two more years in his collegiate swimming career.
Other notable Maine swimmers were first-year Sean Driscoll, who came in sixth place in the longest event of the day, which was the 1,650-yard freestyle. Driscoll finished recording a time of 17:47.25. Second-year swimmer Connor Mayhew placed fifth in the 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 1:58.82, finishing two spots behind Sundquist in the event. In the 100-yard freestyle, second-year swimmer Kevin Clyne and England placed in 11th and 12th place, respectively, out of 26 swimmers in that event. Clyne edged out teammate England only by slight margin, coming in with a time of 49.21. England recorded a time of 49.41.
The Black Bears continue to battle despite some tough competition this season in the pool, and will look to finish strong in their last meet of the season in a few weeks when they travel to the U.S. Naval Academy on Feb. 26-28 for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships.
