Last year, the New Hampshire women’s swimming and diving team led all America East teams by a mere 1.5 points at the end of three of the four days of competition, only to pull ahead on the final day and clinched the 2012-13 championship by 39.5 points.
Trailing just behind UNH were the UMBC Retrievers with 818.5 points for runner-up, while Vermont took third with 548 points. Rounding out the America East women’s teams were Maine (454) and Binghamton (417), which finished fourth and fifth place, respectively.
New Hampshire, which finished with 858 points a year ago, returns the 2012-13 Most Outstanding Swimmer, senior Jenni Roberts. Roberts finished with three victories in the championship run, including the 200-yard butterfly with a record time of 1:58.60. Also returning for the Wildcats are standouts Katie Mann, Lauren McCandless and Jenna Bull. Mann was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer in 2011-12 and posted a win in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Bull collected 54 individual points and tallied a win in the 200-yard backstroke. McCandless also had an impressive championship performance as she set a new pool record in her 1650-yard freestyle win.
UMBC returns a strong squad of veterans to the pool including seniors Talor Tadena and Klara Pavelkova. Tadena earned five gold medals last year, including one in the 100-yd breaststroke, in which she set a new school record. Pavelkova claimed the 100-yd. backstroke title last season, and also teamed up with Tadena on the record-setting 200-medley relay team, and shattered the previously standing UMBC record.
Vermont returns Christa Weaver, who was just the second Catamount in program history to earn the America East recognition of Most Outstanding Rookie. Her 47-point performance in individual heats earned her an overall 11th place among AE swimmers, and the only freshman to rank within the top-20. UVM also welcomes back Junior Ilsa Feierabend: Finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.76) and seventh in both the 100 backstroke (58.27) and 500 free (5:02.90) at the America East Championship. Earned 10 individual victories in 2012-13, including seven in the 200-yard backstroke, and three in the 100-yard backstroke.
Despite finishing fourth in the 2012-13 America East Championship, Maine looks to come back with a vengeance. Returning for the Black Bears are Naja Harvey, Erica Smrcina and Kara Capossela. Harvey and Smrcina each set several school records last year in both individual and medley relays, while Capossela was outstanding on the boards throughout the season, eventually placing third in the three-meter dive.
Binghamton’s squad will look for leadership in junior Corinne Zotter. She won gold in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2012 and silver in the 200 breaststroke in 2013. Caitlin Kelly and Shannon Lampe also had impressive performances last year as each were finalists in the 50 and 500 free, respectively.
The season will culminate at WPI in Worcester, Mass. for this year's America East championship, which will take place February 13-16.