BALTIMORE – For the first time, four Baltimore schools convened in an aquatic center, as UMBC, Johns Hopkins and Towson visited Loyola-Maryland's Mangione Pool for the 2023 Thomas Murphy Invitational.

"What a great weekend of Baltimore swimming and diving," said Head Swimming Coach Matt Donovan. "All four teams really pushed each other in every event. I am extremely impressed with how we performed. The number of season and lifetime bests that we put up these last three days in incredibly impressive. It's a great time to be a Dawg."

Sophomore Bruna de Padua earned a pair of trips to the podium, with a second-place finish in the 200 yard freestyle and a third-place showing in the 500 free. Sophomore Telma Maltesjö (200 yard breaststroke) and freshman diver Ember Stennett (3-meter diving) also brought silvers back to Hilltop Circle.  

"The divers had a great weekend," said Head Diving Coach Jeff Fisher. We saw personal bests in total points per dive and several new dives performed. We are making great progress at this point in the season and I am looking forward to more!"

Friday's Highlights

• In a nail-biter between the top four swimmers, sophomore Bruna de Padua placed third in the 500 yard freestyle, posting a time of 4:57.66, 5.5 seconds faster than her preliminary time.
• Junior Makaela Hill touched the wall third in the 50 yard freestyle (23.84). Freshman Ashley Gutshall tied for fifth in 24.00.

Saturday's Highlights

• de Padua recorded a second place effort in the 200 yard freestyle with a mark of 1:51.95.
• Stennett recorded an early career best, amassing 251.60 points to finish second in the 3-meter diving competition
• Senior Rola Hussein just out-reached her Loyola opponent to finish third in the 100 yard backstroke, posting a time of 57.15.
• Junior Elze Bielskute and sophomore Telma Maltesjö finished 4-5 in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Sunday's Highlights

• Sophomore Alicia Buteau (232.40) and Stennett (229.05) finished 3-4 on the 1-meter board, with Buteau only .75 points out of second place.
• Maltesjö earned silver in the 200 yard breaststroke, posting a mark of 2:18.66. Bielskute posted a fourth place finish (2:20.89) in the Retrievers' best duo in the pool over the weekend.
• Hill completed a solid meet by placing fourth in the 100 yard freestyle (51.77).  

The host Greyhounds won the meet with 3164.5 points, followed by Towson (2302), UMBC (1897.5) and Johns Hopkins (1519).

UMBC has a week off before taking on host VMI, along with America East foe NJIT and UNC Asheville on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Lexington, Va.