(UMBC women's swimming and diving team, 2016-17. Credit: America East Championship)
The UMBC women’s swimming and diving team defended its America East Championship title on February 12, 2017, winning a third straight title and setting a conference record as the first team to surpass 900 points. This is the team’s sixth America East Championship, and their final score of 936.5 points was more than 200 points ahead of second-place finisher New Hampshire.
Competing in her final America East Championships Emily Escobedo ’17, psychology, won first place in the 200 breaststroke, setting a new school, conference, and meet record of 2:06.20, and making the cut for the upcoming NCAA Championship. She also earned the Dave Alexander Coaches Award for most points scored during the event, and was named Most Outstanding Swimmer for the fourth time.
Emily Escobedo with her Most Outstanding Swimmer award / America East Championship
“We are grateful for everything Emily has done for this program,” said head coach Chad Cradock ’97, psychology. “She has always been team first and has shown a commitment to the program from day one and we are excited to see what she can do at NCAA’s this year,”
Kayla Lilly ’17, interdisciplinary studies, joined Escobedo on the podium for the 200 breaststroke, finishing in second place (2:18.08). Hania Moro ’20, political science, (2:18.08) led a Retriever sweep of the 1,650 freestyle, winning first place, with Laura Massicotte ’19, mechanical engineering, and Carly Waters ’18, biological sciences, coming in second (17:00.68) and third (17:01.90) respectively.
UMBC also took all three medals in the 200 backstroke, with Emily Vance ’20, psychology, earning gold (2:00.63), Aleasha Knight ’19, psychology, earning silver (2:01.36), and Kylie Danin ’19, psychology, earning bronze (2:01.93). Vance also earned bronze in the 100 backstroke, and UMBC’s 400 freestyle relay team of Escobedo, Massicotte, Alissa Caulfield ’19, financial economics, and Haylee Committe ’20 earning second with a time of 3:23.07, out-touched by just .01 seconds at the wall.
Lauren Day ’17, biology, was named the America East Elite 17 recipient, an honor reserved for the student-athlete who most demonstrates academic excellence through earning the highest cumulative grade-point average in her sport.
Lauren Day earns Elite 17 honor / America East Championship
Coach Cradock, whose team was again named Coaching Staff of the Year, shared, “we are proud of what the ladies accomplished.”
“We have a lot of depth, and it showed this weekend,” he reflected after the championship win. “It’s hard to win without depth and everyone on our team contributed to this title.”
The UMBC men’s swimming and diving team will compete for the CCSA title this weekend in Athens, Georgia, and the Retrievers will compete in the ECAC Championship at the U.S. Naval Academy, March 3–5.
Additional details on the championship are available from UMBC Athletics. For more coverage of UMBC’s victories at the championship, see SwimSwam, College Swimming, and America East.
All photos courtesy of America East Championship.
