The UConn women’s swim and dive team (4-2) travels up north to face Vermont (5-2) for the Huskies last meet of 2023.
Both teams should be feeling confident coming off recent wins at big invitationals. For UConn, finishing with 1572.5 points, it collected a dominating win in the Bucknell Invitational. For the Catamounts, they earned themselves a first place finish at the Harold Anderson Invitational with 849 points.
In the win, Vermont had huge contributions from several key players. Starting off the meet, junior Ella Church set an invitational record in the 1650 Yard Freestyle with a time of 17:07.09, earning herself a first place finish. She dominated the field, swimming almost twenty seconds ahead of the next finisher. Her contributions will be crucial to slow down the Huskies.
Also coming up with big points for the Catamounts was junior Jackie House who came away with three individual victories during the weekend. She started it off with a win in the 500-yard freestyle and followed that up with first-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.
It was the second consecutive year Vermont stood atop the podium in the Harold Anderson Invitational. They came away just four points off their total from the season before, but it was still enough to take down seven other programs.
For UConn, the weekend was full of impressive performances to be excited about. After taking the loss to Bucknell in last season’s invitational, the Huskies wanted to claim that top spot, and they did so in a commanding manner.
Day one of the meet saw several personal bests and first-place finishes including senior Ana Laura Faoro in the three-meter dive and senior Niamh Hofland in the 500-yard freestyle. Also contributing was the 400-yard medley relay team composed of senior Kayla Mendonca, senior Angela Gambardella, sophomore Ella Epes and junior Maggie Donlevy. Their effort of 3:43.86 was good enough to secure the first place finish and help in a successful day one of competition.
Day two was more of the same for the Huskies, but was highlighted by Epes’ school record performance in the 100-yard butterfly. Her record-setting time of 53.91 resulted in a second place finish.
Also coming on day two was junior Julia Pioso’s convincing win in the one-meter dive.
To round out the weekend, the Huskies set several new personal bests and a winning performance by freshman Olivia Herbert in the 200-yard butterfly. Her time of 2:00.64 bested an experienced field to help the Huskies capture the team title.
The Huskies look to be gaining momentum as the new year approaches. A win over Vermont would be their third straight road victory; a good sign for UConn with five meets left before the Big East Championships.