Women Swim to Victory While Men Tread in the Water

by Dan McCarthy

The women of Boston University continued their dominance in the water, but the men were unable to follow suit. In a split meet of sorts the women defeated the Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State University 157-77 while the men fell to Big 12 powerhouse Texas A&M.


The women, like they have done in so many past meets, were able to dominate from the start. The Terriers took the opening 400 Medley relay with a quartet consisting of sophomore Francesca Ferrante (‘12), Senior Emily Munday (’10), Junior Kirsten Tullis (’11), and Freshman Liz Floyd (’13). The Terriers continued to show their strength in the sprints with a repeat performance of last week’s sweep of the 50 Freestyle. Floyd (’13) and Ferrante (’12), back in the water, went 2-3, as Freshman Kara Zebrowski (’13) added a win. The Terriers just wouldn’t let up all day with back-back-back sweeps in the 100 Fly, 400 IM, and 100 Free. Tullis (’11) added another win the 100 Free with a time of 51.84. The Terriers undoubtedly displayed their incredible depth today dropping only four of the eleven events. With the exception of a six point victory over Binghamton, the Terriers haven’t been tested by an opponent winning each meet by a minimum of fifty two points.

The men weren’t as fortunate. Going up again Texas A&M, who had previously defeated a solid Harvard squad, the Terriers found themselves lined up against a more talented team. The Aggies were able to take nine individual victories over the Terriers on Saturday. One of the few bright spots for the Terriers was Senior Ben Kaiser’s (’10) 1000 freestyle, which was the highlight of the Terriers day. Showing his leadership in the pool, Kaiser (’10), swimming in lane five, and Aggie Jensen Reid, in lane four, dueled it out and were separated by less than a second for most of the forty laps. Kaiser took about a second lead at the thirty four lap mark and didn’t give back any time to the Junior from Cypress, Texas. Kaiser hit the wall with a time of 9:48.21 while Reid came in a second and a half later at 9:50.69. Sophomore Jackson Hill (’12) and Junior Bryon Kallert (’11) were able to win back to back events in the one hundred yards freestyle and backstroke but still the Terriers found themselves outmatched and out of luck.

Maria Matyas (’13), like she did last week, was able to win both the one and three meter dives. Matyas ('13), a freshman from Budapest, Hungary picked up the American East Diver of the Week award from the week ending November 8th and can seemingly do no wrong on the boards. Sarah Colton and Bailey O’Brien finished 2-3, respectively, behind Matyas in both diving events. Texas A&M sophomore Grant Nel, from Melbourne, Australia swept the men’s one and three meter dives today with BU standout Tanner Knorr coming in behind two Aggies in the three meter dive.

FitRec will be the host to the Terrier Invitational next weekend, with a number of teams coming down to compete. Both the men and the women swimmers will be competing in the competition, one aimed more towards individual goals than team wins. The divers will be traveling to Cambridge to take part in the Harvard Invitational at Harvard University.

Poolside Notes: Bill Smyth, head coach of Boston University swimming, was able to land a top recruit during the week. Jeffrey Thomas, a senior a Bishop Feehan high school and a resident of Foxboro, committed to the Terriers. Thomas, who swims for Bluefish Swim Club will certainly add a lot of talent to the men’s squad. His 500 Free and 200 free times would be Best BU Dual Meet performances and his 100 time would put him in second in the same category.