COLLEGE PARK, Md. ? Hoping to extend its lengthy dual meet win streak, the Tiger women's swimming and diving team got several outstanding performances from its freshmen and sophomore classes. However, the University of Maryland held off a strong rally by the Tigers to earn a 156-142 victory over Towson in a non-conference double dual meet at the Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium on Saturday afternoon.
The Terrapins ended the Tigers' string of 16 straight dual meet victories and handed Towson its first loss of the season. However, the Tigers earned a split on Saturday by defeating UMBC by a 226-70 margin. The Terrapins defeated the Retrievers, 205-89.
“It was a great win for us against a quality team like UMBC,” Towson Coach Pat Mead said. “To come as close as we did against a school like Maryland is a great step in the right direction for our program.
“To me, one second was the difference between us winning the meet and losing by 14 points and it stings a little bit,” Mead added. “But, you have to look beyond the end result and look at the improvement that a lot of the people had as we look to get ready for Bucknell next weekend and as we look for the remainder of the season and the CAA Championships.”
Sophomore Kayla Zeller led the Tigers in the 1000-yard freestyle by winning the event with a time of 10:09.20 while junior Christina Bowman and sophomore Brooke Golden followed in third and fourth places, respectively.
In addition to winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:57.70, Golden also finished in second place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.55, which ranks second in school history. Zeller took second in the 500-yard freestyle event, completing the race in 4:59.46. Bowman was third with a time of 5:05.19.
Sophomore Meredith Budner and junior Robin Glaser took the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle for the Tigers. Budner finished first with a career-best time of 1:51.13, which is the fourth-fastest time in school history. Meanwhile, Glaser followed less than a second later in 1 minute, 51.58 seconds.
Glaser also turned in a second-place effort in the 100-yard freestyle (51.86) and a fourth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (24.00).
Freshman Cari Czarnecki led the Tiger contingent in the 100-yard breaststroke by winning the event in a season-best time of 1:04.34, which is the third-fastest mark in program history. Junior Ivy Wimberley followed in second place while junior Stephanie Guttenplan was third with a time of 1:06.78.
Senior Danielle Kelly finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.67 while freshman Maggie Macedonia followed in fourth place with a mark of 2:05.89.
Sophomore Megen Donovan led the Tigers in the 200-yard breaststroke by placing second with a time of 2:21.84 while senior Hillary Rieveley earned second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.44 seconds.
Budner led three Tigers in the top four spots in the 200-yard individual medley by finishing second with a time of 2:07.52 while Czarnecki earned third place with a mark of 2:09.74. Macedonia placed fourth in the event, touching the wall in a time of 2:09.98.
Led by Glaser and Rieveley, the Tigers took first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:27.82.
Freshman Lauren Ray led the Tigers in the diving events in the double dual meet. She placed second in the one-meter event with 218.00 points while scoring 201.75 points to earn third place in the three-meter event.
“It was a very positive meet for us, but it also showed that we still have things to work on,” Mead said. “As the meet went along today, we began to see that we are a lot better than we thought we were. If we could have taken back one or two of those close races, it would have given us even more confidence and it could have been a different meet.”
The Tigers will travel to Bucknell University next weekend for the Bucknell Invitational. They have won the last two team titles in the event.
