Bulldogs split with CCSU and UNH

BULLDOGS SPLIT MEET, DOWN CCSU, FALL TO UNH

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior Taylor DeBever (Denver, Colorado) won two more events as the Bryant University women's swimming and diving team put together one of its best meets in Division I program history on Friday night, splitting with Central Connecticut and the University of New Hampshire at the Chace Athletic Center Pool.

Coming off their first-ever win over the University of Maine on Thursday night, the Bulldogs (5-1) followed it up with another stellar performance as they downed Northeast Conference rival CCSU, 169-92, and were narrowly edged by UNH, 137-124.  

A winner of three events on Thursday against the Black Bears, DeBever continued her stellar start to the season, despite losing her first race of the year. She was upended by a pair of Wildcats in the 200 free, her first event of the night. DeBever responded, however, winning the 100 and 500 free to cap her night. She claimed the 500 free in exciting fashion, coming from behind in the final 50 yards to outtouch Allison Rasile from CCSU and win the event by one one hundredth of a second with a pool-record time of 5:08.67.

Senior Casey Ostrander (Yarmouthport, Mass.) also put together another strong meet for the Black and Gold, grabbing a pair of victories before settling for a second-place finish in the 200 back. She won the 100 back with a time of 58.24, the 50 free with a time of 24.38 and also helped the 400 medley relay team to a first-place finish with a pool-record time of 3:58.62. Junior Kaitlin Buckley (Duxbury, Mass.) and freshmen Julia Messina (Canadaigua, N.Y.) and Dana Yu (Bridgewater, N.J.) joined Ostrander on the winning relay team.

The two rookies both followed the relay victory with strong individual performances in the meet. Messina finished second in the 100 breast as she was outtouched, losing by four one hundredths of a second. She followed that with a third-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:27.48. Yu finished second to Ostrander in the 50 free with a time of 24.87 and third in the 200 fly with a time of 59.44.

The Bulldogs will now enjoy a 16-day break from competition before hosting the University of Vermont on Sunday, Nov. 18 at the Chace Athletic Center Pool.