Women’s Swimming & Diving Hosts Maine Friday (5 p.m.)

Friday, January 29

Durham, N.H.

5 PM

University of New Hampshire

University of Maine

Photo by: Greg Greene

1/28/2016 2:17:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team is set to host the University of Maine for the final home meet of the season on Friday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. Senior Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark) will be recognized as the meet is also Senior Recognition Day.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: UNH faces the Black Bears after a convincing 185-108 road victory over Binghamton University on Jan. 23. The Wildcats collected a total of 11 first-place finishes to run away with their fourth win of the season.

Sophomores Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.), Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia), Hailee Miller (Milton, Mass.) and freshman Brittany Moffatt (Cedar Falls, Iowa) each captured two individual gold medals on the day.

Harper set a pool record in the 400-yard individual medley (4:28.60) and captured first in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:53.99.

Baykova continued her dominant season with victories in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races with times of 24.13 and 51.69 seconds, respectively. The sophomore also helped the Wildcats win the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:41.20) alongside freshmen Maddie Murphy (Liverpool, N.Y.), Vivienne El-Sibay (Munich, Germany) and Brittany Driscoll (Wallingford, Conn.).

Miller won the one-meter dive with 228.07 points and also claimed first in the three-meter diver (229.26 points). The Wildcats diver was later named America East Diver of the Week after her dominant effort against Binghamton.

Moffatt won the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.9) in addition to the 1000-yard freestyle (10:37.85).

Meanwhile, Caspersen earned a 100-yard breaststroke victory in a time of 1:07.05. Caspersen was also a key contributor in UNH's first-place 200-yard medley relay while teaming up with freshmen Linnea Lemerise (Brentwood, N.H.) and El-Sibay and junior Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.). The winning quartet clocked in at 1:50.25.

SCOUTING MAINE: The Black Bears most recently squared off against Bowdoin College in an exhibition meet, winning six of 13 meets.

Sophomore Emma Pontious placed first in the 50-yard freestyle (25.22) in addition to powering the 200-yard medley relay team alongside freshmen Megan McGillivary, Emma Blackdeer and sophomore Julianna McDonald (1:51.83).

Blackdeer and McDonald were also key members of the victorious 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:45.00) along with freshman Shayla-Rose Kleisinger and junior Tessa Lindsley. Kleisinger added an individual victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.78).

Senior Abby Parker added another Maine victory in the 100-yard freestyle (55.92) while senior Taylor Sharp took the 100-yard backstroke in 1:03.38.

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 17th 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.