With their regular season coming to a close, UConn Women’s Swim and Dive made sure to take the lead early on in their meet against CCSU on Saturday. With continued energy throughout the matchup, Connecticut secured the win with a final score of 225-75.
Right out of the gates, the Huskies kicked things off on a high note. With the first event, one-meter diving, senior Julia Pioso claimed the top spot. Her teammates, juniors Darah Ostrom and Olivia Denery, were right behind her in second and third place, earning the Huskies 16 points.
Despite this strong start, the Huskies failed to keep up this momentum in the next two events. In the 200-yard relay, the Blue Devils took first place with a team of sophomores Sophie Milhomens, Grace Young, Lauryn Cowing and Katrine O’Leary. In the 1000-yard freestyle, Connecticut’s Jordyn Ricciotti finished second place behind CCSU sophomore Maggie Rutledge who beat out the Huskies to earn first place, with a final time of 10:33.35.
However, after these two events, UConn went on to dominate every other event in the meet. In the 200-yard freestyle, freshman Zoey Griffin secured first place with a time of 1:55.08, just .31 seconds ahead of her teammate, junior Norah Rome. Freshman Jessica Sheng, a key swimmer for the Huskies in the 100-yard backstroke, dominated early on, placing first with a time of 56.60. Right behind her was graduate student Kayla Mendonca with a time of 58.23. CCSU junior Megan Dunnigan came in fourth place with a time of 59.43.
Sophomore Maggie Rhodes constantly stands out in meets for the Huskies in the 200-yard butterfly. The Minnesota native finished with a time of 2:08.26 and right behind her was her freshman teammate, Julia Fondersmith with a time of 2:09.62.
Senior Maggie Donlevy is another member of the Huskies who has been putting on stellar performances in her meets. In the 50-yard freestyle, Donlevy placed at the top again with a time of 24.43. Behind her was Cowing, with a time of 24.90.
UConn has counted on veterans like Mendonca and Pioso to earn these points, but the freshmen on the team have more than proved that they can consistently contribute to its success as well.
Griffin placed first in the 200-yard backstroke, an event she has consistently performed well in. Fellow teammate freshman Sydney Perkins swam her way to the top of the leaderboard in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:20.02. Following suit of her Husky classmate was freshman Nadine Amin with a time of 2:27.39.
With the combination of strong upperclassmen leaders and their dominating freshman class, the Huskies came out on top in their second-to-last meet of the regular season.
UConn will close out their regular season at home against Providence College on Saturday, Feb. 8.
The meet will kick off at 12 p.m. in the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium, where the Huskies will look to end their regular season off on a high before heading to the Big East Championship in Ohio.