BU Swimming & Diving Impress at the Terrier Invitational
By: Brian DeAlmeida
Coach Bill Smyth
Three straight days at the pool can be an exhausting weekend for even the most mature swimmer but the Terriers banded together as the Men’s team finished 4th and the Women finished 2nd at the Terriers Invitational.
On day one, the Terriers looked to dominate their eight visitors and did just that behind the red hot Erin Nabney. Nabney nabbed first in the 200IM by two full seconds while fellow Terriers Mike Spencer and Julimar Avila rounded out the rest of the top three.
The group of Isabella Olivares, Avila, Spencer and Nabney continued to impress as they took second in both the 200 Freestyle Relay and 400 Medley Relay. In the distance events, Stephanie Nasson took second in the 500 free by only .11 of a second while Sarah Hargrave finished just behind her.
The Men’s team also looked impressive on the opening day. Mun Hon Lee had the best performance of the night for the men finishing in 2nd in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.41, just milliseconds behind the first place finisher.
Garrett Chin also made the Championship final and took 5th in the race. Freshman Trevor Winans took to the pool in the 500 free and took 6th as the men would finish in 4th overall after day one.
Day two followed a similar script to day one as the Lady Terriers came out on fire once again. This time Spencer would lead the charge as she finished 2nd in the 200 free with teammates Lauren Dixon (5th) and Nasson (8th) finishing behind her in the championship heat.
Danielle Yoon took 3rd in the 400IM with a time of 4:26.62 and freshman Avila placed 4th in the 100 butterfly. Nabney hit a slump early in the morning with a time that qualified her for the consolation final in the 100 breast but in the evening she recorded a personal best of 1:04.17 that would have given her 2nd overall if she would have made the championship final. Her performance put her just one second behind the school record of 1:03.18 recorded in 2011 by Kristen E. Connors.
In the Men’s meet, Daniel Andronov put his best foot forward in the 100 breaststroke final as he place 2nd with a 55.17. The time was good enough to be the BU’s Fitness and Aquatic Center’s pool record but University of Bridgeport’s Ivan Capan bested him and the record swimming a 54.88. Chin (4th in the 400IM) and Lee (4th in the 100 butterfly) also made appearances in their individual finals.
The freshman ladies continued to impress as both Nabney and Avila continued to swim exceptionally well. Nabney dominated in the 200 breaststroke with a personal record with a time of 2:17.15 which was within seconds of another BU record. Avila took 2nd in the 100 freestyle in a personal best 51.31. Nasson also grabbed first place in the 1650 freestyle. Nikki Bookwalter also made an appearance in the championship final in the 200 backstroke and took home 2nd place. Adronov helped the Terriers sweep the 200 breaststroke as he joined Nabney with a first place finish.
Head coach Bill Smyth had nothing for praise for his team after a dominate performance by his freshman heavy roster.
“I think that we’re having a great meet so far,” said Smyth. “We are having swimmers stepping up and perform times, for the most part, are the best they have done so far this season and in some special cases have been able to do lifetime bests.”
The whole interview can be heard above.
The Terriers will enjoy the long holiday break before taking the long trip down to New Jersey to compete in the Rutgers Quad in New Brunswick on December 5th. The first splash will be made around 9:30am.