LEWISBURG, PA- Coming off their recent victory over Rhode Island, the UConn women’s swim and dive team competed alongside six other schools over the weekend in the Bucknell Invitational.
The Huskies took early wins in the 500y freestyle and 400y medley relay on day one and never looked back, coasting to a first-place finish with a team score of 1572.5.
Senior Niamh Hofland captured the first of Connecticut’s three day-one victories with her first-place finish in the 500y freestyle event. The Newport, Great Britain native was able to edge out Davidson’s Sylvia Stewart-Bates by less than two seconds to give the Huskies 32 early points.
Following Hofland’s victory, Kayla Mendonca, Angela Gambardella, Ella Epes and Maggie Donlevy were victorious in the 400y medley with a time of 3:43.86. For Mendonca, her time of 2:06.80 in the event set a new personal record.
In the three-meter dive, three Huskies represented first, second, and third place as Ana Laura Faoro finished first, with Julia Pioso and Kate Cooper following, respectively. Cooper’s time of 274.85 was a new personal record in the event.
Momentum from day one carried over into Saturday as Epes also set a program record in the 100y butterfly event, stamping a 53.91 and coming in second place by three-hundredths of a second to Fordham’s Monan Compagner. In the one-meter dive, Pioso continued her impressive weekend with a first-place score of 260.4.
On the final day of the event, UConn wrapped up their convincing victory with a first-place win by Olivia Herbert in the 200y butterfly and personal bests from Maggie Donlevy (100y backstroke), Haley Schmitt (100y butterfly), Bella Hoffman (100y backstroke), and Meghan Byrne (400y individual medley).
The Huskies finished nearly 300 points higher than the second-place-finishing Bucknell Bison (1281) and over 500 points better than their total from last season in this event. Fordham finished in third place with 1246.5, and Davidson and John Hopkins rounded out the rest of the top five with scores of 1137.5 and 737, respectively. University of Maryland Baltimore County (560.5) and Bloomsburg University (225) filled in the rest of the standings.
The Huskies will return home to prepare for the spring portion of their schedule, with a current 4-2 record on the season.