By Jared Sugerman

The swimming ‘ diving team traveled to the University of New Hampshire this weekend, where they competed against UNH and Boston University. The Huskies defeated UNH 131-111, but lost 132-108 to Boston University.

Junior Brittany Gilles took first place in the 1-meter dive and the quartet of sophomores Alexandra Doty and Elena Alvarez, senior Katy Turner and freshman Kathrine Fugge finished first in the 400 medley relay.

Fugge also secured second-place finishes in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 200 breaststroke.

Freshman Emily Sutliff took second in the 1,000 freestyle, as did junior Brooks Wallace in the three-meter dive and Doty in the 200 backstroke.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team, comprising of Turner, sophomore Kristen Ohlsen, junior Lauren Aloma and junior captain Kara Lane, finished second.

It was the first time the Huskies competed since spending Dec. 16-23 practicing in Puerto Rico.

“It’s a camp right in the middle of the season and you can continue and upgrade everything you’ve been working on,” said head coach Roy Coates. “We were able to concentrate on fine tuning the technical aspects of our strokes without any distractions, and we also got a chance to do double sessions every day.”

He said he believes the high volume of training was the main reason his team was unable to defeat BU, a squad they had topped at the New England Invitational in November.

“It’s just where we are in the season right now; we’re at our highest volume of training,” Coates said. “The girls are tired and they should be tired.”

However, now is the time when the team’s practices will be modified to gear up for the CAA Championships.

“We’ve spent three months trying to perfect technique and conditioning, so now we’ve got to just work with whatever we’ve been able to develop up until this point,” Coates said. “Now we’re going to really concentrate on swimming fast, because that’s what it’s all about at the conference championships.”

Though he said it is necessary to sacrifice a few regular season victories to be properly prepared to vie for a conference title, it is something many of his athletes find difficult.

“It can be frustrating, especially for the freshmen,” Coates said. “Many of them wonder why we aren’t getting faster every time we swim. This is a time when I look to all of the captains and all of the upperclassmen to help the younger girls understand that this is something that always happens around this time of year.”

The Huskies will host their last home meet of the season Jan. 21, when they welcome Vermont to the Barletta Natatorium.