Miami Tops Kansas, Rutgers in Pool Debut
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami swimming & diving team opened the newly renovated Whitten University Center Pool in impressive fashion, topping both Kansas and Rutgers in a double dual meet Saturday.
Competing in their home venue for the first time since last season, the Hurricanes topped the Jayhawks by a final score of 178-120 and beat Rutgers 180.5-118.5.
“I was very happy with the performances today,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “I know what they’re capable of, but I joked with them in our team meeting after the meet that I’m not sure how they were able to conjure up the energy to swim that fast. I’m really proud of them.”
Despite competing at a difficult point in their training schedule, the Hurricanes enjoyed a number of strong performances on the day to key their fourth and fifth dual meet wins of the season.
Junior Cameron Davis picked up Miami’s first win of the afternoon in the 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 10:20.95, while sophomore Ksenia Yuskova followed up that performance with a win of her own in the 200 freestyle.
Top finishes from junior Christina Leander (55.92 in the 100 backstroke) and Angela Algee (2:03.83, 200 fly) helped build Miami’s momentum before the first intermission.
Kershaw said his team had additional motivation competing in their new pool in front of a large home crowd.
“It was really special. I think that had a lot to do with the performances. They were really excited,” Kershaw said. “One of our goals at the beginning of the year was to make our home venue a special place. When they set a goal, they own it and they go for it, and that’s what we saw today.”
The Miami diving contingent helped keep Miami ahead in the middle portions of the meet. Miami took second (senior Kara McCormack), third (Wally Layland) and fourth (Marcela Maric) place in the 3-meter diving event, while Maric (first), McCormack (third) and Layland (fourth) added more points in the 1-meter.
“We were strong across the board. I talked to them about making sure they took some time last night to get their ‘meet switch’ ready,” Kershaw said. “We haven’t done that in a long time. We’ve done a lot of coming out onto the deck and practicing, but that’s a different switch sometimes. I think recognizing that was important.”
Sophomore Julie Suarez kept Miami’s momentum going after the first intermission when she won the 100 freestyle in a time of 52.26 seconds. Freshman Roxanne Yu (2:00.33, second place) and Leander (2:02.82, third) added to Miami’s point total in the 200 backstroke.
Davis picked up her second win of the day with a strong showing in the 500 freestyle (5:01.85), while Suarez took second in 5:03.03.
Two of Miami’s most veteran swimmers – Algee (54.92, first place) and senior captain My Fridell (55.73, third place) – continued to distance Miami from the competition with clutch performances in the 100 fly.
Leander’s top 200 IM time of 2:07.15 set Miami up for a big finish in the 200 freestyle relay.
“We’ve been working all year on finishing our races strong,” Kershaw said. “Whenever we’ve had our best swims, it’s because that’s what happened – that’s what stood out to me today. They did really well at the end of their races, they swam smart races, and they executed what they prepared to do.”
In no event was that more evident than the finale, where Miami’s 200 free relay team – comprised of Yuskova, Fridell, Suarez and Algee – won one of the closest events of the day. The Hurricanes posted a time of 1:35.39.
The Hurricanes will look to continue to build momentum when they host FGCU for their Senior Day meet on Friday. Jan. 15.
“The competition we faced today is so important – a good Big 12 team and a good Big 10 team,” Kershaw said. “We’re doing our part for the ACC. That’s important, and adds to the confidence that we were able to go against two big time schools and perform the way we did.
“It certainly gives us a great kickoff to this spring. Six weeks from now, we’ll be getting ready for the last night of finals at the ACC Championships, and that’s what we’re building towards.”
