Women's Swimming Selected Seventh in America East; Men Picked Fourth
10/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The University of Maine men's and women's swimming and diving teams were selected to finish fourth and seventh, respectively, in the America East preseason polls as announced by the conference on Wednesday.
On the men's side, UMBC was selected to win its ninth consecutive conference title as they received 15 votes and three first place tallies. Boston University was selected second in the poll with 14 votes and two first place selections. The Terriers were followed by Binghamton with 10 votes while Maine received six total votes in fourth place. Stony Brook rounded out the poll in fifth with five votes.
UMBC was also selected to repeat as champions on the women's side as it received 35 total votes and five first place votes. Boston University was also selected second on the women's side with 32 tallies and two first place selections. New Hampshire placed third in the poll with 26 total votes while Vermont and Binghamton tied for fourth, each receiving 18 votes. Stony Brook placed sixth with 11 votes while the Black Bears were slated to finish seventh with seven votes.
The swimming and diving program continues on the incline as both squads showed solid improvements during the 2010-11 campaign. The men's team improved its record to 5-3 and earned a fourth-place finish at the America East Championships, its highest finish since the 1990 season. The women also made significant advances as they finished at 5-6, scoring 237 points at the Championships, an advancement from the year before in which they tallied 209 points.
The records continued to fall under head coach Susan Lizzotte in 2010-11 as Jeremy Bender improved his own record in the 400 IM to a time of 4:05.52 while Andrew Meehan (Brewer, Maine) set a new mark in the 100 fly at 50.71. The women really turned things up under Lizzotte's guidance in her second year as seven records fell. Caitlin Shelley snapped the 100 breast and 200 IM records as Erica Smircina (North Falmouth, Mass.), Lauren Thornbrough (San Diego, Calif.) and Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.) put new marks on the 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 breast. The women's team also set new records in both the 200 and 400 medley relays.
The men's team returns 18 to this season's squad including Yuri Chornobil (Rochester, N.Y.) who placed seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle event at last year's America East Championships. Senior captain Brian Landry (Yorktown, Va.) will also lead and look to build upon his impressive career with the Black Bears. Landry took home eighth place at last year's America East Championships in the 200-yard breaststroke event. Maine welcomes 10 newcomers to this season's squad.
On the women's side, the Black Bears return a wealth of experience as 26 student-athletes will return for the 2011-12 season. The Black Bears shined on the diving boards last season as sophomore Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) will look to build off from her highly impressive freshman campaign. Capossela placed fourth in the three meter event and fifth in the one meter event at the America East Championships. At one point during the season, Capossela won 14-straight events that she entered. Kara Dubiel (Carefree, Ariz.) also returns for her senior season, fresh off a tenth place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle at the America East Championships. The women will add six newcomers to its 2011-12 roster.
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