The New York University Women's Swimming and Diving Team finished its last day of competition at the Bruno Invite on Sunday, December 5. The weekend meet was hosted by Brown University in Providence, RI, at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
Johns Hopkins University and the University of New Hampshire competed alongside NYU and Brown.
The evening finals featured outstanding performances from the Violets as they achieved multiple NCAA cuts and posted record-breaking times.
The women set the tone early by achieving two NCAA-qualifying times in the first event.
Ashley Brodnick (Raleigh, NC/Leesville Road) finished third in the 1,650 freestyle (17:08.48) and
Sophia Schlichting (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) placed fifth with a time of 17:25.57.
Julia Ahn (Marietta, GA/Wheeler) and
Nika Kouznetsova (Hamilton, NJ/Mercer County Health Science) earned NCAA cuts in the 200 backstroke with respective times of 2:03.50 and 2:03.72. The 100 freestyle also saw
Jessica Flynn (Charlotte, NC/Charlotte Latin School) place second (51.52) for her fifth of six NCAA cuts this weekend.
A few events later,
Caitlin Marshall (Noblesville, IN/Noblesville) garnered an NCAA-qualifying time in the 200 fly (2:00.88), also setting a new season-best in all of Division III.
Julianna Sosnowski (San Jose, CA/Leland) swam alongside Marshall and also earned a cut with a time of 2:05.13.
"I was excited to suit up and swim fast this weekend," Marshall said. "Overall, I'm really proud of how everyone did and I can't wait to see how we carry this energy into UAA's this season!"
It was a great evening for NYU relay teams as well. The team of Kouznetsova,
Maia McAllister (Philadelphia, PA/Julia K Masterman),
Isabel Oldham (Brentwood, TN/Brentwood), and Flynn achieved the final NCAA cut for the women's team by placing second in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:27.04.
"That was one hell of a way to finish up the meet," Head Swim Coach Trevor Miele said. "We had multiple NCAA cuts in almost every event and some outstanding performances. They outperformed my expectations and I'm glad all their hard work paid off this weekend."
The diving featured a strong NYU performance on the 3-meter board. Three Violets finished in the top eight of the final event - Maria Miao (Strewsbury, MA/Strewsbury) (243.20), Katherine Nardone (Weston, MA/Weston) (237.10) and Ashlyn Winship (Richardson, TX/Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science) (233.80).
"We all dove amazing this weekend and rose up to the challenge," Miao announced. "It was so nice being with everyone and bonding with the team."
Brown won the invitational with 1351 points. NYU placed second (797), Johns Hopkins was third (694) and New Hampshire took fourth (636).
"After a long third day, we were thrilled to have three women make finals again," Head Diving Coach Todd Kolean commented. "Miao finished very strong - she's such a great 3-meter diver. I'm very proud of all the divers' performances this weekend."
The Violets' next competitions take place on Thursday and Friday, January 13-14, 2002. The NYU Diving Invitational will be at the Palladium Athletic Facility both days, while the swimmers will compete at Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday and host them on Saturday.
