Women's Swimming Drops Close Decision to UMass
November 13, 1999 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The Boston University women's swimming team lost to UMass 155-145 on Saturday in a meet decided by a controversial photo finish.
The Terriers trailed 142-141 going into the afternoon's final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Terriers' team of junior Kerry Kusz (Iron Mountain, MI), freshman Ingrid Salazar (Simi Valley, CA), sophomore Christina Chen (Tacoma, WA), and senior captain Abigail Clark (Baltimore, MD) held the lead through most of the race until UMass caught up in the final leg to create the photo finish.
The electronic timer, usually relied upon to decide such calls, had short-circuited during the event, leaving the decision up to a pair of officials, who decided in favor of UMass.
The dramatic finish capped off a meet that featured seven lead changes. The Terriers took the early lead behind a first-place finish by the 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Meg O'Neill (Chattanooga, TN), Clark, junior Amelia Finnerty (New Fairfield, CT), and Kusz in a time of 1:50.23.
In the next event, Salazar turned in Boston University's best time in the 1000-yard freestyle with a 10:25.58 performance.
After UMass rebounded to pull ahead, 39-35, the Terriers won the next four events. Freshmen Laurie Green (St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada) won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.49, and fellow-freshman Karissa Lopez (Albuquerque, NM) followed by winning the 200-yard butterfly in 2:11.82.
A pair of Terrier seniors then won their events as Clark captured the 50-yard freestyle in 24.53 while Cindy Hoffman (Cornwall, NY) won the one-meter dive with a B.U. and UMass pool record 283.43 points.
The Minutewomen responded again and regained the lead at 97-91 before Clark won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:25.16. Salazar followed with a winning time of 5:07.59 in the 500-yard freestyle, and Finnerty earned the Terriers' final first-place finish of the day with a 59.39 performance in the 100-yard butterfly.
"The loss was disappointing because the team swam well and did everything they were supposed to," said Terrier head coach Reagh Wetmore in a story in the B.U. school newspaper, The Daily Free Press.
With the loss, the Terriers' record dropped to 1-2 on the season. The team's next meet will be at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday (November 23rd) at home against America East rival University of Maine.
