BALTIMORE -- The UMBC Women's Swimming team went five-for-five in breaking UMBC Aquatic Complex pool records on Saturday afternoon in a non-scoring meet against Frostburg State and Mount St. Mary's.
"Our pool has a long history filled with Olympic Champions and world record holders," said head coach
Matt Donovan. "To stand toe to toe with them today is a tremendous honor. This team is great at embracing challenges. Going ten for ten (overall) on pool relay records was a tall order and we did it. This was a total team effort. Every member of this team had a hand in our success today. I could not be more proud of this group. What an amazing day to be a Retriever!"
The first race of the day broke the first record of the day as
Bruna de Padua,
Elze Bielskute,
Nicol Davanzo and
Ashley Gutshall won the 200 Medley Relay in 1:43.80, besting the previous mark of 1:45.30 set by UMBC in 2015.
Minutes later, de Padua,
Nicole Lopez Kohlmann,
Megan Gangaway and
Claire Oettinger set the 800 Free Relay pool record in a time of 7:35.12 to beat the previous best of 7:37.92 set in 2005 by New Hampshire.
Gutshall, Lopez Kohlmann, Oettinger and
Makaela Hill would then break the pool record in the 200 Free Relay with a time of 1:34.42. The mark was previously held by the 2005 New Hampshire team who finished in 1:36.32.
In the very next event, de Padua, Bielskute, Davanzo and Hill broke the 400 Medley Relay record with a time of 3:48.49, to beat the previous best of 3:50.00 set by UMBC in 2019.
The final record of the day was broken in the final event of the day as de Padua, Hill, Gutshall and Oettinger completed the 400 Free Relay in 3:24.83 to smash the previous pool best mark of 3:29.20 which was set by Navy in 2015.
UMBC has over a month off before taking on La Salle in Philadelphia on January 17th.
