SWIMMING & DIVING NOTEBOOK
The Vermont women's swimming & diving team kicks off the new season on Saturday with a 12 p.m. relay meet against in-state rivals St. Michael's and Norwich at Forbush Natatorium. The meet will be streamed live for free at CatamounTV.com.
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LEADERSHIP GROUP
Back in May, head coach
Gerry Cournoyer announced the appointment of seniors
Stefi Geiger,
Kira Hancock, and
Kelly Lennon as captains for the 2017-18 season. The trio replaces
Molly Condron,
Abby Holmquist, and
Ali McClure, who served in the role last season. Cournoyer enters the season one win shy of 125 in his tenure.
CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
For the second time in the last three seasons, Vermont broke the program record for total points at the America East Championships with 668 at the 2017 event in February. The Catamounts registered their fifth straight third-place finish in the team standings, breaking four varsity records over the weekend in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay, and 400 free relay. The Cats defended their conference title in the 200 free relay and posted six additional All-Conference performances from three swimmers. Vermont closed the season 6-1 overall and 3-0 in America East meets.
ACADEMIC HONORS
Last season, Vermont was designated as a Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for the spring semester with a team GPA of 3.23. UVM was honored along with Binghamton and UNH from America East. Five of the 12 honorees on last year's America East All-Academic Team were Catamounts;
Stefi Geiger and
Sarah Mantz were selected as repeat honorees, while
Kira Hancock,
Kelly Lennon, and
Alexy Novelli were named for the first time.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
St. Michael's and Norwich will bring their men's and women's teams to Catamount Country on Saturday. Eileen Hall enters her eighth season at the helm, while former Catamount diver Suzy Gruner '13 enters her second year as the women's diving coach for the Purple Knights. St. Mike's placed seventh among nine schools at last year's Northeast-10 Championships and broke nine school records. Lindsay McNall also became the first swimmer in school history to qualify for an NCAA Championship.
Jay Schotter begins his first season as the head coach at Norwich after four seasons as an assistant at his alma mater Bridgewater State University. Cadets sophomore Elaine Dudley was named last year's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Rookie of the Year after breaking five individual school records in her freshman season. The women were 12th at the New England Intercollegiate Championships last year, improving eight places from their 20th place finish back in 2016.
WHO'S NEXT
Next Saturday (Oct. 7), the Catamounts open the regular season as they travel to Newark, New Jersey to face Binghamton along with the NJIT men's team at 12 p.m.
Speeder & Earl's Coffee is the presenting sponsor of the 2017-18 women's swimming & diving season
