The University of Maine kept the meet versus the University of Vermont (UVM) close, with strong start, but would eventually drop the competition 168-123. Maine’s winless season continues as they drop to 0-3. UVM’s undefeated season continues as they improve to 4-0. The win was UVM’s closest match of the season, winning by only 45 points. UVM’s average win is by a 60-point margin.
“We swam very well,” Maine’s Head Coach Susan Lizzotte said. “We’re moving in the right direction as a team. Only having girls here, it was slightly different, we usually have the guys but they were at Boston College. The girls definitely kept the energy up.”
Maine set the pace with a strong performance in the first event: the 200 medley relay. The team of third-year Tessa Lindsley, first-year Emma Blackdeer and second-years Victoria Kingston and Emily Borger took first place with a time of 1:35.07. Maine took second place and fourth place as well.
In the second event of the meet, first-year Shayla-Rose Kleisinger managed to earn the first place finish in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:46.56. The second place finish, UVM’s third-year Kelly Lennon, produced a time of 10:51.11. Another Maine first-year, Alison Brodt, took third place in the event with a time 10:59.52.
“I think we instilled some fear in them right off with the relays and made sure they knew we aren’t a team to ignore,” third-year Cece McEachern said. “We have been training hard the last few weeks and even though we are tired we still were able to come back hard in all of our races.”
Second-year Juliana McDonald found success in the 50 freestyle. Her time of 24.43 was four milliseconds ahead of the UVM’s second place finisher fourth-year Sarah Mantz.
Maine’s diver, third-year Hayli Weitz’s score of 201.22 in the one-meter dive was enough for first place. She beat out two other UVM divers first-year Kelsey Olsen and second-year Ashley Branagan who scored 194.10 and 169.80 respectively.
Kingston also secured a first place finish in the 100 butterfly with her time of 58.81. After her first length, Kingston was behind by several 10ths of a second but was able to come back and shave off some time in the second length.
Weitz came out on top again in the three-meter dive with a score of 180.90. Her performance edged out second place finisher, UVM’s second-year Ashley Branagan, by a total of 9.38 points.
Kleisinger earned another first place finish in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) with her time of 2:13.83.
Maine dominated in the 200 freestyle relay, securing all four top spots. The team of Borger, McDonald and first-years Emma Blair and Rita Chen took first place with a time of 1:38.68. The second place team of Lindsley, first-years Kate Pontius and Sabrina Nuttall and second-year Chloe Adams earned a time of 1:42.21.
“I think Maine is a much improved team this year, the score was not indicative of the competition that was in the pool today. They swam much closer than what the score really shows,” UVM’s Head Coach Gerry Cournoyer said. “It’s a good wakeup call for our ladies to realize that just because a team was a certain way last year doesn’t mean anything this year.”
Maine moves back to Rhode Island for the University of Rhode Island Invitational next Saturday, Nov. 19.
