UMBC

Baltimore, MD—The UMBC men's and women's swimming and diving teams lost to the East Carolina Pirates in a dual meet held Saturday afternoon at the UMBC Natatorium. The Retriever women fell, 139-99, while the men battled a powerful Pirate team before losing by a score of 134.5-106.5. With the losses, the women dropped to 8-3 on the season, and the men to 6-3.

In the meet's first event, the UMBC women had a great start as the women's 400 medley relay team of Astrid Sperling, Lindsay Prather, Holly Wittsack, and Elyse Gibson captured first place and broke the pool record with a time of 3:55.53. Sophomore Jessica Prosen followed strong in the second event as she finished in first place in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:35.89. However, it would be the last time that the Retrievers would lead, as the Pirates captured first place in nine of the remaining 11 events. Other winners for UMBC included Sperling in the 200 backstroke and Prather in the 200 breaststroke. East Carolina was led by Diane Parker, who won the 200 individual medley and 200 butterfly.

On the men’s side, the meet was tightly contested, as ECU led by only two points after ten events. However, the Pirates would extend their lead by winning the final three events to secure the victory. UMBC was led by sophomore Jakub Sroczynski, who won the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke. Other winners included junior Brad Green in the 50 freestyle, and freshman Geza Szabo in the 200 butterfly. East Carolina was led by Casey Cronin, who won three individual events, and Dean Cheek, who won two.

The Retrievers return to action when they host Johns Hopkins for a dual meet on Friday, January 31, at 2 p.m.