It was Senior Day for the Hurricanes swimming and diving team at Saturday’s home meet against FIU. It was a hard fought afternoon, but ultimately the Canes fell to the Golden Panthers in the seniors’ final season event.
Miami’s six seniors were honored in pre-meet festivities. Senior swimmers Heather Arseth, Amy Wiley and Meghan Murphy, and divers Cheyenne Cousineau, Thea Vock and Sam Dorman lead the team with notable performances.
“I put it on our seniors to lead us, and I think it was obvious that they showed us what they’re made of,” Head Coach Andy Kershaw said.
Despite the top performances, the Hurricanes still fell short in the 400 freestyle relay final event. Miami won the first but dropped the second to FIU’s “A” relay team.
Miami’s “A” relay included junior My Fridell, Amy Wiley, Yuskova and Repman. They snatched first in a time of 3:26.66. The “B” relay for Miami with junior Alejandra Gonzalez, Algee, Murphy and Arseth finished .09 seconds behind FIU who had a time of 3:28.61.
“Score-wise, it’s disappointing,” Kershaw said. “For the second week in a row, we had to get first and second in the 400 free relay to win a meet, and for the second meet in a row, we almost did it.”
Wiley grabbed first in the 100 breaststroke while sophomore Julia Schippert took third. Sophomore Angela Algee had a top finish in the 200 fly, while Arseth and freshman Rebeka Repman placed in the top three of the 50 freestyle.
Freshman Ksenia Yuskova earned the first win of her college career in the 200 freestyle. Her performance followed up a second-place showing from sophomore Cameron Davis in the 1000 freestyle.
Vock and Cousineau traded top-two finishes in the diving events. Vock grabbed first in the 1-meter (340.35) and second in the 3-meter (369.15), while Cousineau had second in the 1-meter (326.48) and first in the 3-meter (383.33).
Top finishes by Fridell and Algee in the 100 fly set Miami up for a dramatic finish to the meet. The Canes couldn’t pull it off.
“This is going to hurt for a while, but ultimately the improvement that we’ve made will be what stands out the most,” Kershaw said.