For those interested in aquatics, the A-10 swimming championships started today, and the UR women have jumped out to an early lead by winning both opening night relays.
Spiders got out to a healthy lead in the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay and basically cruised from there, winning by over a second.
The 800 free relay was considerably more interesting, as the Spiders' entry time was slow enough that they had to swim in the first heat instead of in the second heat with the other top contenders. Swimming first and just being able to set a fast standard and hope it held, the Spiders won by a nose, edging out UMass by 0.13 seconds. They were helped a bit in pacing by Duquesne, another fast squad that got relegated to the first heat but finished third overall.
Spiders lead after the short day one with 80 points, and UMass is narrowly leading the rest of the pack with 60.
Spiders are in a bit of a difficult situation with seeding as seen in the 800 free relay. Most of the other teams swam a fast meet in the fall where they were rested, giving them some solid times for seeding purposes at A-10s. UR has not had a rested meet all year, as Barany typically believes in better end-of-year results from pushing through a full season progression without the interruption of mid-season taper. But that means manyf UR swimmers have relatively poor seed times compared to the rest of the field, giving them some uncertainty about how they stack up with everyone else as they swim their events.
Spiders got out to a healthy lead in the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay and basically cruised from there, winning by over a second.
The 800 free relay was considerably more interesting, as the Spiders' entry time was slow enough that they had to swim in the first heat instead of in the second heat with the other top contenders. Swimming first and just being able to set a fast standard and hope it held, the Spiders won by a nose, edging out UMass by 0.13 seconds. They were helped a bit in pacing by Duquesne, another fast squad that got relegated to the first heat but finished third overall.
Spiders lead after the short day one with 80 points, and UMass is narrowly leading the rest of the pack with 60.
Spiders are in a bit of a difficult situation with seeding as seen in the 800 free relay. Most of the other teams swam a fast meet in the fall where they were rested, giving them some solid times for seeding purposes at A-10s. UR has not had a rested meet all year, as Barany typically believes in better end-of-year results from pushing through a full season progression without the interruption of mid-season taper. But that means manyf UR swimmers have relatively poor seed times compared to the rest of the field, giving them some uncertainty about how they stack up with everyone else as they swim their events.
