Women's Swimming Falls to UNH in Final Regular Season Meet

ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's swimming & diving squad fell 185.5-109.5 to visiting New Hampshire on Friday at Wallace Pool. Carmen Linden (Ottawa, Ontario) and Naja Harvey (Orono, Minn.) each picked up victories for Maine while Erica Smrcina (North Falmouth, Mass.) scored a pair of second place showings.

Harvey continues to have a strong rookie campaign as she won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:06.27 and placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:27.50. Linden scored her victory in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:18.06 and added a fourth place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 1:59.03.

Smrcina had a pair of strong showings in the butterfly events for the Black Bears, placing second in both the 100-yard fly (58.61) and the 200-yard fly (2:10.17). Lauren Dwyer (Orono, Maine) placed third in both the 100-yard freestyle (54.92) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.09).

Several other Black Bears had strong individual showings as Kara Dubiel (Carefree, Ariz.) turned in a pair of fourth-place finishes. Dubiel was fourth in both the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:15.36 and the 1000-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 10:57.57. Lauren Thornbrough (San Diego, Calif.) placed second in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:15.95 while Shannon Bender (Cumberland, R.I.) was second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.28. Abigail Linn (Elkhart, Ind.) also had a second place finish, placing second in the 200-yard IM at 2:21.76.

Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) led Maine on the diving boards with a pair of runner-up finishes. Capossela was second in the one-meter at 236.03 and second in the three-meter with a final score of 239.55.

Harvey, Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.), Dwyer and Emily Buczkowski (Woolwich, Maine) teamed up to win the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.18 while Buczkowski, Harvey, Smrcina and Dwyer placed second in the 200-yard medley relay, touching the wall at 1:50.67.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams will now focus on the America East Championships which get underway on Feb. 23 at Boston University's Aquatics Center.

-U-M-