Following last week’s dominant home opener against Florida International University (FIU), the University of Miami had a great weekend in Texas for the SMU Classic. Several of the eight swimmers in attendance for the Canes had great performances and impressive times. This included four NCAA “B” cut times and five individual marks that cracked the program’s top-10 leaderboard.
“The weekend was very productive,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “A lot of good things to come out of this meet. Everyone had some really good moments, and everyone had some moments of challenge and moments where we can identify some things to improve on moving forward, which is also great.”
Talia Bates posted two NCAA “B” Cut times in the 100-yard freestyle, where she notched the third-best time in program history. She also completed the 200-yard freestyle in 49.11 seconds, good for the second-best time in school history.
Bates also managed to record Miami’s seventh-best time in the 50′-yard freestyle. Spending her final year in Miami after transferring from Florida and a great career there, Bates has continued to impress as a member of the ‘Canes.
Alongside Bates, junior Giulia Carvalho and senior Emma Shuppert recorded “B”-cut times. Carvalho’s came in the 100-yard butterfly, and Shuppert’s came in the 100-yard backstroke and ranked as the third-best time in school history.
Some other notable performances included junior Mary Kate Kelly’s 200-yard backstroke, which ranked eighth in the program’s history, as well as the 800-yard freestyle team’s 7:14:20 performance.
“I think we took a major step forward being able to do that work at the beginning of the week and follow it up with a meet like we had … our team was feeling some of the work we’ve been putting in in the weight room, and to go as fast as they did was great,” Kershaw said. “We should be very confident about what’s to come.”
UM will attempt to carry this momentum to Illinois in a couple of weeks, where they will race against Northwestern and Southern Illinois on Oct. 21.