“[The 200 medley relay team] learned to race. Getting the touch at the finish was exciting.”
Husson Coach Jeff Wren
Coach Jeff Wren’s young Husson University team continues to swim faster and to mature as racers.
“I am really happy with what we are doing with the people we have. I have had a great experience working with this group, which is minimally experienced in competitive swimming,” Wren said.
Evidence of Husson’s maturity is apparent when reviewing the recent results from the two- day Great Northeast Athletic Conference meet held at Simmons College. Husson established seven school records. Four relay records (800 free, 200 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relay) and three individual events (50 breaststroke, 400 individual medley and 500 free) fell in the recent GNAC meet.
Clearly for Wren, the 200- medley relay was a highlight of his team’s maturity in competitive swimming.
“While the school record may be somewhat humble, with three freshmen in the relay the last two legs made up some water and we touched other teams out at the finish,” Wren said.
“They learned to race. Getting the touch at the finish was exciting. They competed,” said Wren, speaking of Kelley Bernier, Renee Dufresne- Dixon, Erin Doucette and Kaitlin Theriault, who raced for the Eagles in the medley relay.
A year ago, Husson scored 14 points and finished seventh in the seven-team meet. In the recent meet, the Eagles scored 33 points and finished fifth.
Husson resumes competition in January.
Maine teams strong in meet
In Orono, coach Skip Nitardy’s Maine Black Bear swimmers and divers competed last weekend in the Rhode Island Invitational where the UMaine women finished second to URI and the men finished fourth.
“We were trying to squeeze more fast swims out of the first semester,” said Nitardy, whose team prepped to swim fast the previous weekend in the Boston University Invitational and then attempted to hold onto the speed in the URI meet.
“We knew the other teams would be in their fast suits and they were. We raced in our team suits,” Nitardy explained. “For the other teams this was their rest meet and we had our rest meet the previous week.”
Nevertheless, Nitardy pointed to the performances of senior Colleen Miller, who won gold in the 500 free (5 minutes, 10.5 seconds), the 1,000 free (10:41.5) and the 200 free (1:56.7) as highlight swims for the Black Bears.
In addition, Samantha Graham won the 1-meter diving and the Black Bears gained silvers in the 200 IM with a 2:16.2 from Caitlyn Shelley, in the 1,000 free with Mimi Chovanc’s 10:50.2, in the 100 fly from Kerstin Fenton (1:01:3) and from Lauren Thornborough in the 200 butterfly (2:12.4).
For the Maine men, Nitardy complimented the 200-backstroke race (2:06) of Zach Cravens. “He swam a great 200 back race. He stepped up and went fast.”
Brian Landry finished second in the 200 breaststroke (2:13), while teammate Jeremy Young, who concluded his season with the Black Bears with a 56.9 100 back as he will be studying internationally next semester, raced very well, according to his coach.
Maine will train long-course (50 meters) during the semester break where Nitardy expects his team to return to peak condition.
“We must come back and be ready to race Providence,” Nitardy said.
Relay splits fast at PVC Relays
The Penobscot Valley Relay Carnival, the opening competition of the interscholastic season, featured several early-season fast relay splits. Ellsworth’s Brian Batson led off the Eagle 200 free relay with a speedy 22.2 and then split 49.1 in the 400 free relay. Also in the 400 free relay, Joey Quinn of Bangor recorded a fast 100 at 50.4. In the 200 medley relay, Orono’s Chris Dwyer gave the Riots an early lead with a quick 27.2 on the backstroke leg.
In the girls relays, Lauren Dwyer of Orono slid under 30 seconds on the back leg at 29.4 and Brewer’s Jessica Hodsdon swam an impressive breaststroke in medley relay at 31.7. And Moriah Reading of Bangor was one of only three swimmers to split a sub 30-second leg in the 200 butterfly relay at 26.8.
Lane Lines …
• Six hundred forty-two swimmers will race in the Bowdoin Open scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Bowdoin’s natatorium in Brunswick. The meet sponsored by Maine Swimming in conjunction with Bowdoin is open to swimmers from Maine and New England.
• The fastest 100 backstroke time by a female Maine college swimmer this season was recorded last weekend by Colby’s Kelsey Potdevin (58.8) at the MIT Invitational.
• Bangor’s Emma Chaiken, diving in the MIT Invitational, was the highest scoring diver for Wheaton in the 3-meter competition, finishing seventh out of 24 divers.
• Kallie Pottle, who swam for Brewer, gave the Springfield College 200 medley relay team the lead on the backstroke leg and the Pride relay went on to finish two seconds ahead of the field at 1:51.5 in a meet against the College of New Jersey recently.