Senior Katie Mann (Prince George British Columbia) snapped two pool records and earned provisional cuts in the 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard IM, leading the University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team to a 168-124 victory over the University of Rhode Island at Swasey Pool on Saturday.
Mann set new records and provisional cuts in the 400-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke, recording times of 2 minutes, 14.88 seconds and 4:16.43 seconds respectively. The senior's 400-yard IM time ranks her 11th in the nation while her 200-yard breaststroke mark is 22nd among Division I swimmers.
The Wildcats notch back-to-back wins and are now 2-2 in dual meets. Rhode Island is handed its first loss of the season, slipping to 3-1.
New Hampshire captured 15 of 16 events, featured seven different swimmers with the top time and six one-two finishes.
Freshman Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia) notched two first-place finishes, improving her career-best times in both the 100- (51.74) and 200-yard freestyle (1:50.89) events. Baykova's performance in the 200-yard freestyle was just .17 seconds short of a the pool record. Classmate and reigning America East Swimmer of the Week Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.) tapped the wall first in 100-yard butterfly (57.56) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:04.73). Sophomore Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.) claimed the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle (23.89) and put forth a personal best effort in the 100-yard backstroke (58.31). Junior Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark) seized first place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.74) and 200-yard IM (2:08.80).
Senior Oneida Cooper (Johannesburg, South Africa) rounded out the first place swimmers for UNH, blazing through the water in the 200-yard butterfly for a time of 2:07.40.
Senior Nicole Zahka (Medway, Mass.) swept the diving events for the Wildcats. On the one-meter springboard, Zahka logged the top score with a 241.95. She followed up with a first place score in the three-meter dive, collecting a score of 247.72.
New Hampshire kicked off the meet with a first place time in the 400-yard medley relay. The quartet of Harper, Caspersen, Cooper and Broderick combined for a time of 3:53.48 to give the 'Cats a strong start out of the chute.
Freshman Bridget Miller (Longmeadow, Mass.) accompanied Mann as the top-two finishers in the 400-yard IM, recording a second-place time of 4:38.50.
Rookies Baykova and Harper battled it out the 200-yard freestyle. Harper tallied a second place finish, clocking in at 1:52.53 as Baykova outreached her for the fastest time.
Following first place times in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke events, New Hampshire went one-two in the 200-yard butterfly. Senior Megan Suffel (Cornwall, Ontario) trailed Cooper in the event, registering a second-place finish of 2:10.31.
Broderick and Zahka continued the winning barrage for the Wildcats, entering the midway point of the meet.
UNH put forth another one-two finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Broderick took second in the event with a time of 52.96, trailing Baykova by 1.22 seconds.
After a top finish by Harper in the 200-yard backstroke, the Wildcats placed first, second and third in the 200-yard breaststroke. Behind Mann's provisional cut, Caspersen (2:20.78) and Sarah Olver (Milwaukee, Wis.; 2:26.54) trailed to complete the one-two-three finish.
New Hampshire notched first place marks in the 100-yard butterfly and the three-meter dive before competing in exhibition for the remainder of the meet.
Caspersen and Cooper clocked in with the two fastest times in the 200-yard IM. Cooper was on the heels of Caspersen, clocking in at 2.11.76 for the runner-up spot.
The Wildcats flirted with another pool mark to conclude the meet. The first place relay squad of Baykova, Broderick, Mann and Harper engineered a time of 3:31.84, just .63 seconds off from the record.
UNH takes a week off before competing at the three-day meet at Rutgers Invitational (Nov. 21-23).
