LIU women’s swimming opens season with victory

The Island Now
Photo by Alex Cordova.

By Mikey Domagala

The women’s swimming team at LIU Post scored a 110-89 victory over Central Connecticut State University, at the Pratt Recreation Center on the LIU Post campus on Oct. 21.

The Pioneers had a historic outing, breaking the 200-yard medley relay pool record set in 2015. Senior Laura Benfeldt, junior Caitlin Johnstone, junior Karis Fuller, and sophomore Tove Sparrman defeated Central Connecticut by nearly five seconds (1:43.73), breaking the 2015 record by one second.

Karis Fuller, a junior sociology and journalism student from London, England, said breaking the record was a pleasant surprise.

“Taking down the pool record was a nice surprise, especially so early in the season,” she said. “It set the tone for the meet and hopefully the year to come.”

Johnstone, Fuller, and Bendfeldt outraced Central Connecticut in five events. Fuller and Bendfeldt earned first place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.15) and the 50-yard freestyle (23.79).

Additional first-place finishes from the trio came in the 200 IM (Johnston, 2:09.99), the 100-yard free (Bendfeldt, 51.53) and the 100-yard backstroke (Fuller, 56.87).

“Since doubling [the number of girls on] our team from last year, we have become competitive in race times and numbers. Central Connecticut is a tough D1 team, but we felt so confident going into the meet and got the win,” said freshman public relations major Alex Cordova, who swam in three races, including a third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. “I would give our first meet an A+. We swam out of our minds and did it as a team; the atmosphere was energetic and fun, which we will bring to every pool deck we walk on to.”

The Pioneers return to the swimming pool on Saturday Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. at the University of Bridgeport.

“My teammates are my family. Our main goal is to win the Metropolitan conference, and we know we can do it,” Cordova finished.

This article was originally published in the Pioneer, the award-winning student newspaper of LIU Post, www.liupostpioneer.com, and is republished here by Blank Slate Media with the permission of the Pioneer.

 

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