BALTIMORE - The UMBC men's and women's swimming and diving teams open the new decade when they host Howard University at the UMBC Aquatic Complex on Saturday, Jan. 4. The action gets underway at 2:00 p.m.
A Note to Spectators: The Retriever Activities Center is under construction and the track will be inaccessible for the remainder of the season. Please enter the facility via the ground-level glass doors adjacent to the indoor pool/women's locker room and proceed upstairs to the balcony for the meet.
Last Time Out: The Retrievers took part in the annual Patriot Invitational at George Mason University November 21-23. Junior Kai Wisner (Syracuse, N.Y.) and senior Ilia Rattsev (Moscow, Russia) put together outstanding meets. Wisner earned the Retrievers' second gold medal of the competition, capturing the 1650-yard freestyle. The junior outdistanced the competition by nearly seven seconds, touching the wall in a time of 15:33.79. Rattsev briefly set a meet record in the 100-yard freestyle in Saturday preliminaries, finishing first with a time of 44.70. He came in at 44.61 in the finals, which was good enough for third place.
On the women's side, senior Hayley Commite (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) completed an outstanding meet by placing ninth in the 100-yard freestyle (51.62) and 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:24.38).
But it was junior Natalija Marin (Belgrade, Serbia) who posted the top finish of the meet for UMBC. She finished fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a mark of 2:04.23.
The men placed fifth, amassing 409.50 points. UNCW won the meet with 788.50 points, followed by Florida Atlantic (738.5), Drexel (697.5), host George Mason (667), UMBC (409.5), Seton Hall (366), American (104) and Shippensburg (83). The women placed eighth with 163 points. Drexel topped the nine-school competition with 850 points.
Honored: The Retrievers picked up six America East Swimmers and Divers of the Week in the first half of the campaign.
Weekly Award Winners
Oct. 16 – Male Swimmer: Tiago Asakawa, UMBC; Male Diver: Ben Parker, UMBC
Nov. 6 – Female Swimmer: Natalija Marin, UMBC; Male Swimmer: Ilia Rattsev, UMBC
Nov. 20 - Male Swimmer: Ilia Rattsev, UMBC; Male Diver: Will Henrickson, UMBC
Last Year vs. Howard: On Senior Day 2019, the men defeated the Bison, 134-114 while the women prevailed, 138-115.
The Retrievers also had plenty to celebrate in the pool as well, breaking a handful of pool records during the course of the meet. The women's 400 medley relay team of toppled New Hampshire's record of 3:51.53, set back in 2005, after finished the race with a new time of 3:50.00. Senior Emily Vance (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) and Marin swam the lead and third legs respectively in that race.
The men's 400 medley relay team of Alexander Gliese, current juniors Luis Galvan (Torreon, Mexico) and Jack Carlisle (Cape Town, South Africa), along with Rattsev touched in with a time of 3:22.35, shattering Binghamton's record of 3:26.33.
In the final event of the day, the men's 200 free relay teams capped off the day much like it started. The team of Rattsev, Connor Ganley, Gliese, and Asakawa clocked in with a time of 1:23.43, breaking the pool record.
Next Up: The Retrievers head back to George Mason to take on the Patriots in a dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 18. The meet gets underway at 1:00 p.m.
