Wildcats win third consecutive America East Championship

Sunday, February 13

Worcester, MA

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championship

2/13/2022 9:52:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Full Results (PDF)

PHOTO GALLERY

WORCESTER, Mass. – The University of New Hampshire swimming and diving team won its league record 10^th America East Championship on Sunday evening at the Sports & Recreation Center on the campus of WPI.

UNH, who won the four-day meet with 814.5 total points, is just the third team in the history of the conference with win three consecutive conference championships in the sport of women's swimming and diving. The 'Cats led UMBC by just four points headed into the final day of competition and the Retrievers ended up with a second-place finish (752.5 points).

The Wildcats were led on the day by junior Olivia Stille's (Stockholm, Sweden) gold medal in the 100 free with a mark of 50.86 and senior Anna Metzler's (Regensburg, Germany) first-place tally in the 200 fly (2:00.96), which marked her second gold medal of the weekend. Metzler was also honored with the AE Coaches' Award given to the senior student-athlete to compile the most points at the AE Championship over the last four seasons.

"This championship was hard fought. Going into Sunday morning only four points up we had to really attack our events and get people placed in finals at night," said UNH head coach Josh Willman.

Metzler placed second and set a new school record in the 200 back with a time of 1:56.41, while junior Madison Linstedt (Marion, Ohio) also finished in sixth (2:03.87).

Senior Cate Wardinski (Burke, Va.) and sophomore Abby McKinney (Westfield, N.J.) also earned important fifth and sixth place finishes in the 100 free at 51.77 and 51.81. Wardinski was named the America East Elite-18 Award Winner for earning the highest GPA of any student-athlete competing at the championship over the weekend.

Sophomore Jamy Lum (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Maddie Fritz (Lansdale, Pa.) finished with the silver and the bronze in the 200 breast with marks of 2:18.09 and 2:20.16, respectively.

Paige Edmier (Bartlett, Ill.), Hannah Devine (Hamilton, N.J.) and Ciara McCormack (Newtown, Mass.) opened the day with a second (17:11.04), third (17:19.24) and fifth place (17:32.63) finish in the 1650 free to extend the 'Cats lead on UMBC to open the day.

"Paige Edmier, Ciara McCormack, Hannah Devine and Cassidy Wilson really jump started Sunday night and got the ball rolling in the mile for us to begin creating a lead that couldn't be surpassed," mentioned Willman. "The divers really played an integral part in this win and I am incredibly proud of our team and coaching staff."

The Wildcats finished the day with a strong second-place finish in the 400 free relay comprised of Stille, McKinney, Metzler and Wardinski with a time of 3:25.17.

UNH's coaching staff comprised of Josh Willman, Mike Jolly and Cecelia Tarr were named the AE Staff of the Year.