The University of New Hampshire women’s swimming and diving team defeated the University of Maine 161-125 Friday evening. The meet was held at Swasey Pool on the campus of UNH. The Wildcats claimed gold in all 16 events.
The Wildcats started the meet off with a bang as the 200-yard relay team of Linnea Lemerise (Brentwood, N.H.), Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark), Vivienne El-Sibay (Munich, Germany) and Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.) swam to a first-place finish with a collective time of one minute, 49.23 seconds and taking 11 points. Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.) and Brittany Driscoll (Wallingford, Conn.) finished first and second in the next event, the 1,000-yard freestyle. Harper tagged the wall first in the grueling event with a time of 10:03.78. Driscoll finished with a time of 10:34.29.
Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia) collected another gold medal for the Wildcats as she beat the competition in the 200-yard freestyle with a record-breaking time. She came in with a time of 1:50.31. Lemerise earned her second first-place finish of the day and first individual in the 100-yard backstroke. She was the only competitor to break the one-minute barrier as she raced to a time of 58.83 seconds. Caspersen followed suit as she came in first in the fifth event, the 100-yard breaststroke. She gained nine points for the ‘Cats with a time of 1:07.04. Sarah Olver (Durham, N.H.) was right behind Caspersen as she came in with a time of 1:08.24.
El-Sibay took victory in the 200-yard fly, racing to a time of 2:07.84. Broderick and Kaitlin Cahill (Troy, N.Y.) finished in first and second in the 50-yard free. Broderick came in to a time of 24.80 seconds while Cahill notched a result of 25.09 seconds.
Hailee Miller (Milton, Mass.), the reigning America East Diver of the Week, earned her first of two victories on the day as she was tops in the 1-meter dive, tallying a score of 228.07 points. Her second victory of the day came in the 3-meter dive as she notched 229.49 points. Baykova again took gold, her second of the day, as she was first in the 100-yard freestyle. She touched the wall with a time of 50.98 seconds.
Lemerise tallied another nine points for UNH in the 200-yard backstroke as she blazed through the water with a time of 2:06.76. Olver came in first in the following event, the 200-yard breaststroke as she touched the wall in 2:23.61. Caspersen was right on her tail as she came in with a time of 2:23.66. Harper paced the 500-yard freestyle as she came in first at 4:58.68. Driscoll tagged the wall second at 5:12.47. El-Sibay won the 100-yard fly with a time of 58.94 seconds and was the only competitor to finish under the one-minute mark.
Lemerise kept her stellar performance up with a win in the 200-yard IM. She completed the four-stroke event with a time of 2:12.95. Baykova, Driscoll, Broderick and Cahill came in first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a collective time of 1:39.02.
The Wildcats return to the pool next on Feb. 11 for the start of the America East Conference Championships. The event starts on the 11th and concludes on Feb. 14.
