The UMBC women's and men's swimming and diving teams get back into competition this weekend when they travel to South Orange, N.J. and face the Seton Hall Pirates for the first time since 2017. The meet gets underway at the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium at 1:30 p.m.
 
The meet is scheduled to be streamed on the Pirate Sports Network (https://shupirates.com/watch/?Live=531&type=Archive) and live results will be available on Meet Mobile under Seton Hall vs. UMBC. Updates will also be provided on the team's Twitter account of @UMBCSwimDive.
 
UMBC's last outside competition occurred in early December at the ECAC Winter Championships. The men won the competition, while the women placed second to a strong Columbia University squad.
 
The Retrievers celebrated Senior Day on Jan. 13. The teams honored a dozen women and 13 men's seniors and fifth-year student-athletes before an intrasquad time trial competition.
 
"I keep saying this at every meet but it couldn't be more true today," said Coach Donovan after the time trials "I am so proud of this team and how hard they work.  We had every reason to not show up today but this team never quits.  They have completely bought into the race pace training that our staff has presented to the team and it shows up on meet day. The energy today was just as high as it would have been at the biggest meet of the season.  We are on track to finish the season the right way.  We are eager to have a great week of practice and are looking forward to racing Seton Hall in seven days".
 
HONORED
 

• For the second time in the 2021-22 swimming and diving season, the America East Conference tabbed UMBC's Kai Wisner (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Will Henrickson (Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) Swimmer and Diver of the Week respectively on December 7.
  
  Wisner, a fifth-year senior, earned ECAC Swimmer of the Meet honors. He won an event each day, taking the 500 freestyle on Friday, the 400 IM on Saturday and the 1650 freestyle on Sunday. The ECAC tabbed Henrickson, a junior, as the Diver of the Meet. He won both diving events, amassing 266.40 points in winning the 3-meter competition on Friday; then recorded a score of 282.05 in capturing the 1-meter event on Saturday. Those marks were Henrickson's career bests at UMBC.

 

• Head Coach Matt Donovan and his staff earned Men's Coaching Staff of the Meet accolades.

 

• With a dominant effort versus Towson on Nov. 6, UMBC's Caroline Sargent (Trumbull, Conn.) earned America East Conference Female Swimmer of the Week award.
  The senior won three events (100 and 200 backstroke and 200 IM) and was part of 200 yard medley relay victory as UMBC defeated Towson by the narrowest of margins, 151-147.

 
HEATING UP THE POOL
 

• Junior Jenna Gwinn (Baltimore, Md./Mount de Sales) continued her brilliant season, winning for the seventh and eighth times of the season by capturing the 100 and 200 breaststroke events at the ECAC Winter Championships. Gwinn broke the meet record with a time of 1:01.69, an NCAA "B" cut and National Invitational qualifying time for the 100 breaststroke.   
• The quartet of Sargent, Gwinn, junior Sierra Tosten (Hagerstown, Md.) and sophomore Makaela Hill (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville) earned golds and smashed meet records in the 400 and 200 medley relays. The foursome lowered the seven-year old 200 meter record by over a second with a time of 1:41.86 and smashed the previous mark in the 400 meters by over seven seconds, completing the race in 3:44.13.
• Wisner and sophomore Daniel Nicusen (Santana De Mures, Romania) each won three golds at the ECAC Championships. Wisner won the 1650 freestyle, the 500 freestyle and the 400 IM on Saturday, while Nicusen captured the 200 breaststroke (in a meet record time of 1:59.26), the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
• Junior Niklas Weigelt (Clayton, Calif.) earned two golds in the championships, setting a meet record while taking the 100 freestyle in 43.87. He also captured the 200 yard freestyle event.

 
 A GLANCE AT SETON HALL
 

• The Pirate men (2-2) have not competed since taking part in the Patriot Invitational at George Mason in mid-November. The women (2-3) did see action on Jan. 15, falling to visiting UConn, 167-128. Both teams will celebrate their Senior Days before the meet versus the Retrievers.   

 

• UMBC last competed versus Seton Hall in early October of 2017 in South Orange. The Retriever women defeated SHU, 156-144, while the men earned a 167-128 victory.

 
UP NEXT
 
UMBC will face tough competition at the Navy Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 29. The meet gets underway at noon in Annapolis.