Women’s Swimming & Diving Set for ECAC Championships

Friday, February 26

Annapolis, Md.

ALL-DAY

University of New Hampshire

ECAC Championships

Photo by: Gil Talbot

2/25/2016 2:40:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team is ready to compete in the ECAC Swimming and Diving Championships at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The event begins Friday, Feb. 26 and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 28.

New Hampshire is sending a trio of sophomores to the ECAC Championships including sophomores Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.), Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia) and Kaitlin Cahill (Troy, N.Y.) in addition to three freshmen swimmers in Brittany Driscoll (Wallingford, Conn.), Brittany Moffatt (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and Linnea Lemerise (Brentwood, N.H.).

America East Championships Review: New Hampshire finished second behind UMBC in the conference title meet with a total of 824.5 points. Each of the Wildcats swimming at the ECAC Championships is coming off excellent efforts at the America East Championships.

Harper broke off a record-breaking performance in the 1,650-yard race at the America East Championships. The prolific sophomore won the event with a time of 16 minutes, 33.54 seconds, shattering both conference and conference title meet records.

Baykova looks to continue her success after an outstanding AE title meet. The sophomore delivered three wins in as many events during the final day of competition. She highlighted her day with a win in the 100-free (49.81 seconds). She was also a key member of the first-place 400-free relay squad (3:25.40) that rounded out the final day of competition on a winning note. Last season, Baykova won the ECAC Most Outstanding Swimmer of the meet.

Driscoll was named the America East title meet's Most Outstanding Rookie. She won the 400-yard individual medley and finished third for the Wildcats during the 200-yard breaststroke race in 2:20.89. Additionally, the freshman placed first for New Hampshire and fourth overall in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.24).

Moffatt, another outstanding Wildcat freshman, was a member of the victorious 400-free quartet alongside Baykova, Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.) and Harper. The freshman also claimed third place (17:01.77) in the 1,650-yard free event at the conference championships.

Cahill notched career-bests during the America East Championships in the 100-yard freestyle (52.34) and 200-yard freestyle (1:53.65) races. She also enters the ECAC Championships with experience in the 50-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay events this season.

Lemerise dazzled at the conference title meet, winning the 200-yard backstroke's final heat in 2:00.28. Her winning time outdid the runner-up by just .49 seconds. Lemerise advanced to the final heat after clocking in at 2:00.67 during the preliminaries. The freshman also clocked in as a finalist in the 200-yard individual medley and was the runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke.

For more information on UNH women's swimming & diving, please visit www.UNHWildcats.com.