University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Men's Swimming and Diving Strong at Terrapin Cup
11/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
COLLEGE PARK, MD (Nov. 22) - Nick Acquavito, Jacquelyn Craft, Bobby Folan, Alisha Lee, Bill Monaghan and Dustin Rogers each won events and several school records fell as the University of Connecticut’s swimming and diving teams raced to impressive showings in a loaded field at the annual Terrapin Cup Invitational, held this weekend at the University of Maryland. The UConn men placed second overall with 714 points, trailing only Western Kentucky’s 889. The UConn women were third with 685.5 points, behind of host Maryland (1043.5) and Richmond (855.5).
Both of the 200 medley relay teams set school records. The women’s team, comprised of Ryan Smith, Craft, Cathy Brown and Kydani Dover swam a 1:46.30 to finish fourth overall while the men were second to Western Kentucky as John Bellinger, Tristan Jones, Rogers and Connor Murphy finished in a time of 1:32.69. The women’s 200 freestyle relay tied the school record of 1:36.47 when the team of Jessie Lennon, Smith, Jenny Chang and Lindsay Hansen finished fourth in the event. The women’s 400 freestyle relay also set a school record as Chang, Dover, Brown and Smith pooled for a 3:28.49 time and a third-place finish.
Craft posted an NCAA B Qualifying time of 2:17.68 to win the 200 breaststroke and also recorded an NCAA B Qualifying time of 1:03.83 in the 100 breaststroke, an event where she was edged at the wire by Ashley Hancy of Western Carolina for the individual title. Just a freshman, Craft’s time is just one-hundredth of a second off of equaling Kate Larson’s school record in the event.
Rogers’ time of 48.69 in the finals of the 100 butterfly to win the event shaved almost an entire second off of his school record time set last year and missed the NCAA’s B Qualifying standard by just three-hundredths of a second. Monaghan’s individual victory in the 500 freestyle came in a time of 4:31.53 while Folan took home the 200 backstroke crown in 1:49.62. Acquavito won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:06.24. Coupled with Craft, the Huskies captured both of the 200 breaststroke events.
Smith set a school record in the 200 individual medley as she swam to a time of 2:04.99, good for a third place finish. One of UConn’s stronger events, the Huskies placed four in the top seven to earn a total of 56 points.
It was a banner weekend for the UConn women’s divers as Lauren Jacob set a school-record in the preliminaries of the three-meter event by recording a score of 338.58 while Alisha Lee was victorious in the one-meter event with her score of 240.15.
The UConn men’s team was also victorious in the 800 freestyle relay as Rogers, Monaghan, Volkan Konuralp and Jon Kunces finished first overall in 6:46.01.
