Women's Swimming & Diving Set For Road Challenge at Central Connecticut (Oct. 31; 2 p.m.)

Saturday, October 31

New Britain, Conn.

2:00 PM

University of New Hampshire

Central Connecticut State University

Photo by: Greg Greene

Women's Swimming & Diving Set For Road Challenge at Central Connecticut (Oct. 31; 2 p.m.)

10/30/2015 10:48:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

DURHAM, N.H. -- The University of New Hampshire swimming & diving team hopes to bounce back from its first loss of the season on the road against Central Connecticut State University on Saturday, Oct. 30 (2 p.m.) at Jack Suydam Natatorium.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: In their last outing, the Wildcats fell to Northeastern University, 155-145, on Saturday, Oct. 24 at Swasey Pool. Although UNH captured nine wins, the blue and white was edged out in the close meet.

Sophomore Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia) engineered three first-place finishes. Tabbed as the America East Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com on Oct. 28, she won the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events with times of 23.98 seconds, 51.78 seconds and 1 minute, 51.28 seconds, respectively. Senior Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark) claimed first place 200-yard medley relay (2:20.65) and the 200-yard IM (2:08.41). Meanwhile, sophomore Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.) won both the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:03.19 and 2:03.78, respectively.

On the boards, sophomore Hailee Miller (Milton, Mass.) and freshman Erin Cullather (Highland Park, Ill.) each gathered 208.05 points from their one-meter dive, gathering just enough to place fourth. This was a career-best for Cullather. The first-year Wildcat posted a personal-best score of 215.30 points in the three-meter dive, as she earned fourth place in the event.

SCOUTING CENTRAL CONNECTICUT: The Blue Devils started off the season with a 129-96 win over Long Island University Post on Saturday, Oct. 24. CCSU is most recently coming off a sweep at the Blue Devils Diving Invite on Sunday, Oct. 25 at Jack Suydam Natatorium.

Standout diver and senior Kaitlyn Beaver won the three-meter at the event with 217.3 points. She also emerged victorious with 217.6 points in the one-meter dive.

Sophomore swimmer Maddy Garber took first in the 100-yard breaststroke against LIU, touching the wall in a time of 1:05.98. Garber also won the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:23.79.

Another Blue Devil sophomore in Lauren Czulewicz placed first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.96). Senior Selene Chilton picked up the win in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:17.43.

Freshman Aidan Devers emerged victorious in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:41.14. CCSU's 400-yard medley relay team of Kaitlyn Troy, Garber, Lisa Ward and Czulewicz claimed first in 3:59.02.

ENVELOPE PLEASE: Baykova has twice been tabbed to weekly awards this season. She earned the America East Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 20 for her performance against the University of Vermont on Oct. 17. She then merited the league's Swimmer of the Week award by CollegeSwimming.com on Oct. 28 for her efforts against Northeastern. Baykova has notched seven first-place finishes through two meets.

AMERICA EAST ELITE: Baykova and Harper occupy the top rank amongst America East swimmers in several events this season. Here is the breakdown and times in which New Hampshire swimmers pace the conference in each event:

Event	Swimmer	Time
50-yard freestyle	Liza Baykova	23.98
100-yard freestyle	Liza Baykova	51.39
200-yard freestyle	Liza Baykova	1:51.28
200-yard backstroke	Jessica Harper	2:03.30
100-yard butterfly	Jessica Harper	55.85
200-yard butterfly	Jessica Harper	2:03.12

ALL AROUND THE MAP AND ENDING IN DURHAM: The Wildcats' roster features swimmers from four countries. UNH has 16 student-athletes from the United States and representatives from Denmark, Germany and Russia. Baykova, who hails from Moscow, Russia, is farthest from home at 4,435.97 miles.

THE WILLMAN FILE: Head coach Josh Willman enters his 23rd season as head coach of the Wildcats for the 2015-16 campaign. Last season, he collected his 17^th Coach of the Year Award and guided UNH to its eighth conference championship in program history. Willman's success has established him as the most highly decorated coach in America East and been named the conference's Coach of the Year 13 times in the last 20 seasons (1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014). A 1984 graduate of the University of Miami (FL), Willman began his collegiate coaching career at UNH in 1991 as an assistant coach. He took over as head coach the next season and saw immediate success, collecting the first Coach of the Year honor of his distinguished career.

ON DECK: New Hampshire travels to the University of Rhode Island for a meet on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. The 'Cats return to Swasey Pool on Friday, Jan. 29 (5 p.m) against America East rival University of Maine.

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