Miami Swimming & Diving Splits Meet in North Carolina
Oct. 11, 2008
Raleigh, N.C. – The University of Miami swimming & diving team came away with a split on Saturday as they defeated the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (W, 162-79), but fell to host N.C. State (L, 144-99) in a tri-match at the Casey Aquatic Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
After placing all five divers (three women / two men) into the `B’ zone diving cuts last weekend, the women took center stage by themselves this weekend in the first road event of the year. Traveling with just 14 student-athletes due to injury and other issues, the Miami Hurricanes (2-2) were unable to secure back-to-back wins, but still mustered up a good meet.
“I’m somewhat happy with how we performed because we could only take 14 student-athletes,” stated swimming head coach Christie Shefchunas. “Obviously, we couldn’t compete at the highest level with the absences, but I’m happy with the ones that were here because they gave everything they had.”
Miami started things off with a third place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:00.22. Erin Simpson, Dana Hatic, Katie Eason and Hagar Elgendy led the way with a freshmen-laden team.
Sophomore Ryann Labreche captured her third top three finish of the season in with a second place finish (10:26.44) in the 1000-yard freestyle. Teammate Tiffany Petzold was seventh with a mark of 10:42.80. Labreche was just as solid in the 500-yard freestyle as she recorded a time of 5:04.86 to end second overall.
Redshirt freshman Lauren Jacoby swam to a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 1:54.09 to just miss-out on the `B’ cut. Teammate Annika Saarnak was fourth (1:54.50) for the event. Sarah Lozier followed suit (2:01.15) as the third Hurricane in the top 10.
Elizabeth Torres vaulted into a fourth place finish after being sixth at the half-way mark of the 50-yard freestyle to register a time of 24.77 seconds. Eason was eighth.
After finishing second in the 200 IM last weekend, Britta Boesing bounced back with a top time this weekend and a season-best mark of 2:06.22. Junior transfer Cori Lallier followed in seventh place and a time of 2:11.92.
Boesing went on to post a second place time of 2:05.70 in the 200-yard backstroke.
At the diving well, Jenna Dreyer once again finished in first place in the 1-meter event with a total of 327.35. For Dreyer, coming back after redshirting last year with an injury, it was a season-best total on a six-dive ratio. The Hurricanes went 1-2-3 in the 1-meter diving event as freshman Kelci Bryant was second, 301.80, and Brittany Viola third, 275.20.
In the 3-meter event, Viola captured a first place total of 281.75 with Bryant coming in second (275.70) and Dreyer fourth (270.20).
All three divers qualified for the `B’ zone diving cuts in both events.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Lallier was second with a season-best time of 2:05.75, while teammate Erin Simpson posted a time of 2:08.69 to finish fourth.
Saarnak was back to old fashion in the 100-yard freestyle as she posted a winning time of 52.94, and Torres was fourth (53.60).
In the 200-yard breaststroke, Boesing would finish second with a time of 2:22.23 just missing the `B’ cuts once again. Dana Hatic was third with a time of 2:23.38.
The Hurricanes 400-yard freestyle relay squad finished second behind NC State with a time of 3:33.22.
“I’m happy because we keep getting better every time we swim,” added Shefchunas. “As long as we keep doing that, I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people before the season is through, and it just started.”
Miami gets back to the pool next Saturday, Oct. 18 when they host cross-town rival Florida International University at the Norman A. Whitten Student Union Pool. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
