Maine traveled to the University of Rhode Island for the second time this season, as the men and women’s teams respectively participated in the 21st Annual Harold Anderson Invitational. The women faltered to fifth place out of six schools, with 371.5 points — and the men came in second with 750 points.
The women’s 400 medley relay was the first event, where Maine’s best finish came at 4:00.97. Second-years Megan McGillivray and Emma Blackdeer and third-years Victoria Kingston and Juliana McDonald were able to place fourth out of 21 units.
In the same event for the men, Maine pulled within second place at 3:30.21, as first-year Calvin Cleworth, third-year Eric Delmonte and fourth-years Connor Mayhew and Shane Kinnon were fewer than two seconds away from coming in first.
Fast-forwarding to the sixth event for the men’s 200 individual medley, it may not have come as a surprise as fourth-year Nick Sundquist finished in first place with a time of 1:55.97. Cleworth also came close in sixth place, finishing at 1:59.33.
In the next event for the women’s 50 freestyle, McDonald finished in fifth at 24.89, but she wasn’t alone. Fourth-year Carly Deliberty from Rhode Island also had the same time and they were each awarded 13.5 points.
For the men in the same event, fourth-year Shane Kinnon ironically finished in fifth place as well, with a time of 22.16. No one tied him and he claimed 14 points.
The ninth event for the women’s 200 freestyle relay was an extremely close call, as Maine missed out on first place by six-hundredths of a second. They finished at 1:38.44, as first-years Emma Blair and Rita Chen and third-years Emily Borger and McDonald took sole possession of second place.
Maine’s men came in second as well for the same event, finishing with a time of 1:27.42. Cleworth, third-year Kevin Clyne, Kinnon and Sundquist were just six-tenths of a second away from reaching Providence’s first place time.
In the 12th event for the men’s three-meter dive, Maine’s first-year Kyle Adams placed with a score of 196.50, claiming 17 points. The only better scorer was Bryant University’s second-year Kevin Sullivan, who had 208 points.
The 14th event for the men’s 200 medley relay, which came to a close finish, as Maine’s Cleworth, third-year Eric Delmonte, Kinnon and Sundquist finished with a time of 1:36.69. They were just one-hundredth of a second quicker than Bryant’s team.
For the men’s 100 butterfly, Sundquist flew away with a first place time of 51.27 and claimed 20 points for the team.
The men’s 200 freestyle came in close in the 20th event, as third-year Alec Penn finished in second with a time of 1:45.73. He was just four-hundredths of a second away from tying Providence’s second-year Liam Straker.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, Mayhew came in first with a time of 52.70. Providence’s second-year Ricky Billig was close behind, finishing just three-hundredths of a second later.
There was another first place finish for the men in the one-meter dive, where Adams had the best score of 225.25 and claimed 20 points.
In the 32nd event for the men’s 100 freestyle, Sundquist was beaten by just one other, coming in second with a time of 47.09. Providence’s first-year P.K. Brannigan placed first, finishing almost two-tenths of a second ahead of Sundquist.
Another individual first place finish came in the men’s 200 breaststroke, where Delmonte had a time of 2:06.52. He neared almost two full seconds ahead of Providence’s second-year Ryan Trammell.
In the women’s 400 freestyle relay, Maine’s best unit came in third with a time of 3:38.11. Chen and third-years Chloe Adams, Borger and McDonald came fewer than five seconds short of first place.
In the same event for the men, the final event of the day, Maine finished in second with a time of 3:12.81. Penn and fourth-years Tim Edison, Kinnon and Sundquist were two seconds away from going ahead of Providence’s squad.
The Harold Anderson Invitational is over, but Maine’s swim teams will be back on Sunday, Nov. 20 to take on the University of Rhode Island.
