Entering the conference finals, the Maine women’s swimming team was 1-4 in scored meets. Their first win came against Providence College right before the postseason. Maine took this momentum into the four-day long competition with their America East rivals.
On the first day of action, Maine took home 60 points, worth a fourth place finish versus competitors University of Baltimore County (UMBC), University of New Hampshire (UNH), University of Vermont (UVM) and Binghamton University. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Maine’s four-women team of second years Megan McGillivray, Alison Brodt, Shayla-Rose Kleisinger and third-year Chloe Adams finished with a time of 7:34.77. The finish, worth 30 points, was 16.95 seconds behind the first place finishers from UMBC.
“I think the best part of the meet was the team dynamic and seeing everyone be a good teammate to each other,” Adams said. “The energy on the team as a whole is exactly where it should be.”
The 200-yard medley relay was a similar story to that of the 800-yard free. Maine’s team of first-years Emma Blair and Sabrina Nuttall and third-years Victoria Kingston and Juliana McDonald finished fourth with a time of 1:44.05. The additional 30 points rounded out Maine’s total for the day. After day one, the standings were UMBC with 123 points, UNH with 113, Vermont with 98, Maine with 60 and Binghamton with 46.
Day two was underway with plenty of action and record breaking performances. Maine finished the day with a total of 160 points to stay in fourth place.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Kleisinger stood out with a time of 4:59.71. This time shaved 2.97 seconds off her preliminary time, the largest improvement from any of the top finishers. Kleisinger finished fifth and was followed shortly after by Brodt who completed the event in 5:07.56, which was good for eighth place. The two picked up 25 points for Maine in the event. In the 50-yard freestyle, McDonald placed third with a time of 23.61. Blair finished in the same event with a time of 23.85. The duo picked up 16 and 12 points, respectively.
In the B-finals, third-year Emily Borger finished ninth with a time of 23.91. Her performance was worth nine points and tallied Maine’s last point in the event. In the final event of the meet, Maine’s team of McDonald, Blair, Borger and fourth-year Tessa Lindsley finished second in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 1:33.43 was a school record and only .12 seconds behind first place finishers UVM. Their finish was worth 34 points and gave Maine their final total of 160 points after day two.
Headed into day three, Maine looked to build on the success of the previous day. After three days, Maine accrued a total of 266 points to remain in fourth place.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Kleisinger continued her success with a time of 4:31.98. Again, Kleisinger managed to shave off a huge difference from her preliminary time of 4:35.22. Kleisinger got another nine points for Maine with her race. First-year Hannah Deschenes also placed in the event with a time of 4:39.84 to give Maine another three points. Kingston gave Maine 13 points for Maine in the 100-yard Butterfly with her time of 56.64. Third-year Emma Pontius and first-year Kate Pontius also placed in the event with times of 57.93 and 58.77 respectively. McGillivray scored for Maine in the 200-yard freestyle with her time of 1:54.33. Third-year Meghan O’Neill also placed in the event with the time of 1:57.89 to score one point for Maine.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Nuttall, fourth-year Cece McEachern and second-year Emma Blackdeer placed for Maine with times of 1:05.10, 1:06.45 and 1:07.25 respectively. The trio picked up a combined 17 points for Maine in the event. Borger placed ninth in the 100-yard backstroke on route to setting a school record with her time of 57.34. Blair followed shortly after with a time of 57.98. In the 400-yard medley, the relay team of McGillivray, Nuttall, Kingston and McDonald finished fourth with a time of 3:51.83.
UMBC finished first again in this event with their time of 3:42.57. At the end of three days, UMBC finished first with 644.5 points, UNH second with 507 points, UVM third with 467 points, UMaine with 266 points and Binghamton fifth with 259.5 points. Maine has one more day of competition left to round out the tournament.
