BALTIMORE – The UMBC women's 200
medley relay team broke the UMBC Aquatic Complex pool record, but
it was not enough as the Retrievers fell to East Carolina, 162-138,
Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the men's swimming and
diving team capped a perfect season, the second-ever in program
history, with a 168-132 win over the Pirates.
The Retrievers started the meet with a bang as the 200 medley
relay team of junior Klara Pavelkova (Prague, Czech
Republic/Gymnasium Pripotocni), senior Claire
Barron (Lowestoft, England/Benjamin Britten/New Orleans)
and juniors Talor Tadena (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista)
and Erika Ronning (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township)
won the event in a pool record time of 1:46.06. The time
barely edged the previous record of 1:46.09 set in 2010.
Ronning, Barron, and Tadena also combined with senior Amy
Fay (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) to win the 400 free relay
to end the meet.
Barron, Fay, and Tadena also picked up individual event wins to
pace the Retrievers. Barron won the 100 breast in a
season-best time of 1:06.22, while Fay won the 1,000 free in a
top-season time of 10:16.31. Tadena claimed the 50 free (24.32) for
the second consecutive week.
Swimming competitively for the final time in her home pool,
senior Jennifer
Kotonias (Burtonsville, Md./Academy of Holy Cross) won the
200 IM (2:07.22).
On the boards, sophomore Katie
Bean (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) earned the Retrievers'
only diving win of the day, taking the 1-meter competition with a
score of 248.10.
The only other time the Retrievers have gone undefeated was back
in 2004-05 in head coachChad Cradock's fourth season in guiding his
alma mater.
On Saturday, the Retrievers were paced by the dynamics of
junior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) and
sophomore Lauri Kaei (Harjumaa, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary
Science). The two swimmers combined to win five
individual events against the Pirates and then helped the Black and
Gold finish off the win with a victory in the 400 free relay along
with senior Steve Gallagher (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and
junior Evan Carey (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand
Island). UMBC also won the 200 medley relay to finish
the dual meet season winning 13 of the 14 relay events in
2012-13.
For Hussein, it was another victorious day in the pool, claiming
three individual events, to go with the 400 free relay
win. The junior opened his day by winning the 50 free
(21.26) and then claimed top honors in the 200 back
(1:50.86). Finally, he won the 200 IM (1:54.09) to bring
his dual meet victory total to 19 for the season.
Kaei, meanwhile, picked up key victories for the Retrievers all
meet long. After leading off for the victorious 200
medley relay team which also consisted of Gallagher, senior Sandy Haibel (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery)
and Carey, Kaei stemmed a brief ECU run by winning the 100 back
(52.31). Junior Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary
Science) made the win more meaningful by racing from behind to
claim second. Later in the meet, Kaei once again
thwarted a Pirates winning-run by taking the 100 fly (51.91).
Also earning big wins for the Retrievers, senior Alex Moothart (Hopkinton, Mass./Mass) won the
1,000 free (9:38.40) for the second straight week and
classmate Pierre De Waal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks
Sport/Cleveland State) won his 12th event of the season, the 200
fly (1:54.38).
UMBC is now off from competition for the next two-and-a-half
weeks while preparing for the America East Championships in Orono,
Maine. The conference meet, which will be hosted by the
University of Maine, will begin on Thursday, Feb. 14 and run
through Sunday, Feb. 17.
