The University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team captured 10 events to power past Central Connecticut State University, 158-142, on Saturday afternoon at Jack Suydam Natatorium.
UNH improves to 2-1 in dual meets this season. CCSU suffers its first head-to-head loss of the season, dropping to 1-1.
The Wildcats' triumph was spearheaded by four first-place finishes for sophomore Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.). She recorded the lead time in the 100-yard backstroke (58.79 seconds), 200-yard backstroke (2:07.10), 100-yard butterfly (58.07) and was the lead swimmer of the the winning 800-yard freestyle relay quartet that combined for a time of 7:48.50.
Sophomore Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Brittany Driscoll (Wallingford, Conn.) each tallied three victories. Baykova, the reigning America East Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com, paced the field in the 100- (53.14) and 200-yard freestyle (1:55.42) events as well as swimming a lef of the winning 800-yard freestyle squad. Driscoll was also a member of the triumphant quartet in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Individually, she touched the wall first in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.28) and 400-yard IM (4:34.37). Rookie Brittany Moffatt (Cedar Falls, Iowa) muscled out two first-place finishes in the 500- (5:16.56) and 1,650-yard freestyle events (17:58.73).
New Hampshire started out the meet with a second-place time in the 200-yard medley relay. The squad of Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark), Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.), Vivienne El-Sibay(Munich, Germany) and Linnea Lemerise (Brentwood, N.H.) fused together a time of 1:51.43.
The 'Cats quickly returned to their winning ways, posting a one-two finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. On the heels of Moffatt, sophomore Bridget Miller (Longmeadow, Mass.) engineered a time of 17:58.79, just .06 seconds behind her teammate.
After victories in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard butterfly, the meet transitioned to the 50-yard freestyle event. Broderick was edged out of a top-two finish, slamming the panel at 24.94. Freshman Maddie Murphy (Liverpool, N.Y.) factored in the scoring with a fourth-place time of 25.40. Broderick's mark was .21 seconds behind the lead time.
On the one-meter board, sophomore Hailee Miller (Milton, Mass.) highlighted the diving unit, racking up a fourth-place score of 191.77. After the diving break, the UNH swimmers retaliated by capturing six of eight events The second-half surge started with a win in the 100-yard freestyle. Bolstering Baykova's lead time was a third-place mark from Broderick, clocking in at 54.61.
New Hampshire again captured two spots in the top-three in the 200-yard backstroke. Adding to Harper's first-place performance was Lemerise's third-place time of 2:12.91.
After a second-place showing by Caspersen in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:25.62), UNH rolled out a one-two-three finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Behind Moffatt, Driscoll posted a runner-up time of 5:19.32 while Miller rounded out the scoring with a third-place mark of 5:20.53.
The meet transitioned to the high board after UNH seized the top times in the 100-yard butterfly and 400-yard IM. Freshman Erin Cullather(Highland Park, Ill.) logged a third place score of 189.45 in the three-meter dive.
The Wildcats punctuated the meet with the lead time in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Harper, Broderick, Baykova and Driscoll ripped through the water for a combined time of 7:48.50.
UNH is back in the pool Saturday, Nov. 7 (11 a.m.) against the University of Rhode Island. The 'Cats return to Durham on Friday, Jan. 29 (5 p.m) against America East rival University of Maine.
