BALTIMORE - The UMBC men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to the UMBC Aquatic Complex on Saturday, Nov. 16 when they host the VMI Keydets in a dual meet. The action gets underway at 1:00 p.m.
Last Time Out: On Sat. Nov. 2, both teams competed in a tough road meet against the Towson Tigers. While both teams put up a good fight they ultimately both walked away with setbacks. The men's team lost a tight meet that came down to the last relay by a score of 153-144. The women fell to the Tigers, 162-133.
Honored: America East named both senior Ilya Ratsev (Moscow, Russia) and junior Natalija Marin (Belgrade, Serbia) as Swimmers of the Week. Marin won in three individual events for the first time in her career. She touched first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.26), the 100-yard fly (56.56) and 200-yard fly (2:04.05) in the meet at Towson. Rattsev also won three individual events, the 100 (45.87) and 200-yard freestyle (1:40.85) and the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.15).
Winner, Winner: In the Retrievers' last outing, the men's team took first place in seven of 16 events total. Most notably were sophomore Kai Wisner's (Syracuse, N.Y.) dominating swim in the 500-yard freestyle (4:34.81) and Rattsev's pivotal swim in the penultimate event, the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.15). The women also walked away with six golds, including the 400 free relay (3:33.28).
Last Year vs. VMI: In last year's meet against VMI, both teams registered outstanding performances. The men won 15 out of 16 total events and the women won 11 out of 16. Some of the best performances of the women's meet included senior Sotiria Neofytou's (Limassol, Cyprus) 100-yard butterfly (57.09), and senior Haylee Committe's (Ellicott City, Md./ Howard) 200-yard freestyle (1:55.12), and a 200-yard medley relay (1:47.11). The men's best performances came from Rattsev's 200-yard freestyle (1:40.68), Wisner's 1000-yard freestyle (9:40.92), and senior Garrett Wlochowski's (Manchester, Conn.) 500-yard freestyle (4:44.96) victories.
Next Up: The Retrievers travel to George Mason for their mid-season invitational where they take on the likes of Drexel, FAU, UNC Wilmington, and four other programs in a three-day battle right before the holiday break.
