DURHAM, New Hampshire. October 18. THE University of New Hampshire women's swimming and diving team finished first in ten of 13 events to garner a 161-81 victory against Siena College in their season opener.
The meet was highlighted by the performance of the Wildcat freshman class—combining for a 50-point contribution for the Wildcats— especially the two first-place efforts by freshman Jessica Little.
To open up the day, the Wildcats finished over four seconds ahead of the visitor to take first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:31.68, including a 20.67 split by freshman Sarah Kanellas.
Junior Mattie Fowler carried the Wildcat success into the next event, as she narrowly beat out Siena with a time of 10:59.74 in the 1000-yard freestyle. After getting edge out by one second in the 200 free, Amy Perrault got the Wildcats back on track with a top finish in the 50 free.
Little stepped up in her first collegiate race with a time of 2:08.85, as the Wildcats garnered the top three spots in the 200-yard individual medley.
Though New Hampshire did not earn a top finish in the 100-yard butterfly, the Wildcats, led by Kannellas (1:00.35), earned second, third and fourth in the event. Perrault grabbed her second first-place finish of the afternoon in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.57. Freshmen Anna Gryglewska and Ainsley Ellis also placed in that event, earning third (56.35) and fourth (56.61).
Little, who is not a normal backstroke competitor, notched her second top-finish of the meet with a time of 1:01.09 in the 100-yard back.
Sophomore Kiersten Wollenzien dominated the 500-yard freestyle, touching in at 5:24.94, a full five seconds ahead of her competitor.
In the first diving event of the afternoon, the 1-meter, Tory McKenna and Nicole Poppas took first and second with scores of 240.22 and 226.95, respectively. The Wildcats then also placed first and second in the 3-meter, led by a 252.30-point finish by Taryn Persia and Poppas with 216.98 points.
New Hampshire earned the top three spots in the 100-yard breaststroke, led by Allison Nahin with a time of 1:08.57. In that event, freshman Dawn Brown (Portsmouth, N.H.) and junior Evelyn Yuen placed second (1:11.98) and third (1:13.19), respectively.
The Wildcats concluded the day with second and third place tallies in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Special thanks to New Hampshire for contributing this report.