The University of Rhode Island women’s swim and dive team competed in a tri-meet against two Atlantic 10 opponents on Saturday, splitting the competition with a 153-106 win over the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a 137-122 loss to La Salle University.

“They are going to be teams that we swim against at our conference meet,” Rhode Island Head Coach Lilli Falconer Deering said. “Both teams are within our reach at the end of the year in terms of placing. It was a good opportunity for us to show up and see what we could do against them.”

With the A-10 championship approaching in February, Rhode Island took on its only conference opponents scheduled during the regular season nearly two weeks after the team’s second-place finish at its midseason meet.

“This time of year can be tough [with final exams and holidays],” Deering said. “Having this meet at this time of year keeps [the athletes] engaged.”

URI started strong with podium finishes in the first seven events. Fourth-year swimmer Maddie Tetreault won the Rams their first event in the 800-yard freestyle, finishing four seconds ahead of her competition. Rhode Island added another top finish with first-year swimmer Julia Havice winning the 50-yard freestyle by one one-hundredth of a second.

The Rams wrapped up the podium streak with another razor-thin finish. Third-year swimmer Ella Hacker (57.90 seconds) finished in second place, while second-year swimmer Julianna Tyler (57.92 seconds) finished third in the 100-yard butterfly. La Salle’s first-year swimmer Camile Frost won the race touching the wall, finishing in 57.89 seconds.

“Both Julianna and Ella swam great races,” Deering said. “It really shows how important those last five yards of a race can be. It’s something that we can continue to work on and improve in finding that next gear to make sure that every race, we finish hard.”

Rhode Island rounded out its first-place finishes with third-year swimmer Rylee Kelly winning the 500-yard freestyle, and fourth-year swimmer Hannah Benevides taking the 100-yard breaststroke.

Despite falling to La Salle, URI had a much closer result compared to the previous season’s 172-128 defeat in a dual meet with the Explorers.

“Last year we had a couple of girls that were sick and didn’t travel with us,” Deering said. “Overall, our team has been training harder earlier on in the season than maybe what we’ve done in the past.”

Rhody is out of action for over a month during the winter break, returning on Jan. 12 for the team’s final home meet. The Rams will celebrate Senior Day against the University of New Hampshire, leaving just two more regular season meets before the conference championship.

“The girls are on their own until we meet them down in Florida for training on December 29th,” Deering said. “One of the big things we’ve preached to them for these next two weeks is just keeping a good feel for the water.”

Deering hopes the break will give her athletes a chance to recharge and take time to spend with family while being prepared to gear back into the final stretch of the season with the team’s training trip in Florida.

“The focus [in Florida] really is on getting stronger, working hard, and pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone,” Deering said. “When we get back to Rhode Island and have meets to compete, we’re definitely very prepared for those. The end goal is championships and doing better again this year than we did last year.”

Last year Rhode Island returned from Florida to finish the regular season 1-2 before placing 10th out of an 11-team field in conference championships. The team will face the same three opponents again this January, starting with UNH. The Rams end the regular season on the road, taking on the University of Vermont before competing against Central Connecticut State University.

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