Swimming Falls in Tri-Meet in Tallahassee
TALLAHASSEE — The University of Miami swimming & diving team dropped its first competition of the spring Friday afternoon, falling to host Florida State and Alabama in a tri-meet hosted by the Seminoles at the Morcom Aquatics Center.
Miami’s diving unit impressed on Friday, with redshirt freshman Alicia Blagg capturing both individual events. Blagg, who missed her freshman campaign due to injury but has represented the United Kingdom at the Olympics, took first in the 1-meter (286.30) and 3-meter (334.60) springboard events. Carolyn Chaney (282.60) took second in the 1-meter while senior Wally Layland (271.75) took fourth.
Layland (299.85, third) and Chaney (286.85, fourth) also impressed in the 3-meter.
The Hurricanes’ men’s diving duo of freshman Zach Cooper and redshirt sophomore David Dinsmore, who have dominated the platform in the early going of their careers, also competed in springboard events. Cooper took second in the 3-meter (352.55) and third in the 1-meter (317.45). Dinsmore, who won the 2017 NCAA national championship in the platform last season, only competed in the 1-meter, where he finished fourth (313.95).
Sophomore Claire McGinnis opened the individual swimming events with a seventh-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:57.78). Sophomore Manon Viguier (1:54.33) and freshman Carmen San Nicolas (1:55.28) both competed in the 200 free, while freshman Karolina Hajkova made her Miami debut with a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke (57.42).
Fellow freshman Alaina Skellett (57.79) and junior Roxanne Yu (58.30) also competed in the 100 back for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a two-week trip to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Miami’s talented freshman tandem of Laurynn Harvard (1:05.62) and Annie Kyriakidis (1:05.97) swam the 100 breaststroke, while veteran Jessica Hurley (2:10.55) led the way for the Hurricanes in the 200 butterfly.
Freshman Sydney Knapp was the Hurricanes’ top finisher in the 50 free (24.82), while Viguier (52.56) and San Nicolas (53.40) were the top UM duo in the 100 free.
Competing in one of her signature events, Yu delivered a third-place finish in the 200 back (2:02.75) and Hajkova continued her impressive debut with a fifth-place finish in the same event (2:03.76). Skellett was not far behind in sixth (2:04.35).
Kyriakidis (2:23.16) and Harvard (2:24.25) both swam the 200 breast, while Viguier (5:06.16) and McGinnis (5:21.97) both competed in the 500 free.
Skellett (57.83), Yu (59.15) and Hurley (1:01.31) all represented the Hurricanes in the 100 fly, and junior Katie Sickinger (4:35.94) was Miami’s top finisher in the 400 IM.
