Diver Domination Not Enough For Miami on Senior Day
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Despite a dominant performance by its divers, the University of Miami swimming & diving team fell to FGCU, 180-120, in the Norman A. Whitten Pool Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt freshman Alicia Blagg posted a mark of 365.78 while senior Wally Layland came in second with a score of 342.75 on Senior Day as Hurricanes swept the podium in the one-meter and three-meter events. Junior Carolyn Chaney rounded off the Miami-prominent top 3 with a final mark of 319.20.
“In terms of our performance, it was a progression certainly from last week,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “Racing-wise, we have to improve a little more in that regard, but we’re on the path to do that.”
Sophomore Manon Viguier led the Canes in the racing events, earning a victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.98), while also placing second in the 100-yard freestyle (51.88) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:04.80). Freshman Carmen San Nicolas also stepped on the podium in the latter event, placing third with a time of 5:09.56. Sophomore sprinter Iliana Oikonomou (24.33) placed third in the 50-yard freestyle, after being beaten by a hundredth of a second for second place.
Junior Roxanne Yu (2:00.65) and freshman Karolina Hajkova (56.06) recorded backstroke victories for Miami, after besting the competition in the 200-yard and 100-yard events, respectively. Yu nearly missed out on her second event victory of the day, placing behind Hajkova with a time of 56.41. Freshman Alaina Skellett also found a place among the top three in the 200-yard backstroke after finishing with a time of 2:05.12.
Hajkova and Viguier teamed up with San Nicolas and her fellow freshman Sydney Knapp on the 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished second with a time of 3:32.19. The same four placed third in the 200-yard medley relay with a mark of 1:45.82, beaten by two FGCU teams. Junior Sydney Story, Oikonomou and freshmen Laurynn Harvard and Jackie Kleinsorgen teamed up for a time 3:36.40 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing third in the event.
Sophomore distance competitor Claire McGinnis earned a top-three finish for the Hurricanes with a time of 10:34.92 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Harvard (1:05.65) and senior Jessica Hurley (2:06.76) also finished third, in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly, respectively.
Miami will host the First Chance Meet (Feb. 10) before heading to the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C. (Feb. 14-17). Kershaw is optimistic that the Canes will improve with several weeks before resuming competition.
“It’s identifying what we need to continue working on in practice,” he said. “Identifying what we have worked on and what has improved and just making sure we just do those things and stay focused on the goal ahead.”
