When	Meet 1: Sunday, Oct. 6, 12 p.m.
Where	Meet 1: Boston, Mass., Barletta Natatorium
Notes and media guide	Game notes (PDF) Digital media guide
Social media	@GoNUwswimming facebook.com/GoNUwswimming

BOSTON - The Northeastern women's swimming and diving team opens its 2013-14 season on Sunday, Oct. 6, when the Huskies host cross-town rival Boston College at Barletta Natatorium beginning at 12 p.m.

The Huskies also unveiled the 2013-14 digital media guide in time for the start of the season.

NU enters the season with the largest freshman class it has had in years, and the Huskies are excited for the level of talent coming to Barletta Natatorium.

"We are extremely pleased with the depth and talent of this year's incoming class," said head coach Roy Coates, who is entering his 21st season at the helm of the NU swimming and diving program.  "The eight incoming freshmen will make an immediate impact in their events and will infuse new energy to our program." 

Senior co-captains Julia Alvarez and Allison Gielowski are equally excited for the new breadth of talent joining a Northeastern program that finished 8-7 (2-3 CAA) last year. 

"We have high expectations for the incoming class," said Gielowski. "These swimmers are very fast."

The Huskies welcome their largest freshman class since the 2010-11 season, when Alvarez and Gielowski made up two of the 12 freshmen on the NU roster. 

This season's freshman class includes Tove Bjork, Jordan Domeier, Rachel Green, Delaney Lanker, Caroline O'Brien, Svetlana Snegour, and Alexandra Yaeger.

In addition to the incoming freshmen, the Huskies acquired Addison Koelle, a graduate student who transferred to NU after swimming for three years at Maryland.

"Addison will bring talent, experience, and leadership to the team," said Coates. "She is a tremendous find for our program."

Koelle, a native of Groton, Conn., has one year of eligibility remaining. She was a decorated swimmer at Robert E. Fitch High School, and was named the Connecticut swimmer of the year as a junior. Her collegiate success includes a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships.

The new additions look to help Northeastern improve its CAA Championship finish for the third consecutive season. The Huskies placed sixth in 2012 and fifth in 2013.

NU improved both as a team and individually, setting several program records last year.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Alvarez, Kelley Becherer, Erica DeMunbrun, and Anna Schegoleva set a new NU standard with a time of 1:42.82.  Both Schegoleva (2:02.21) and Julia Sepulveda (2:02.67) broke the program's 200-yard individual medley record.

Alvarez also set a new standard for the 100 breaststroke (1:02.77), while Anna Schegoleva broke the 100 backstroke record by timing in at 55.91. Keary McClernan's 2:14.10 mark in the 200 breaststroke also set a new record for NU.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Becherer, Schegoleva, Jessica Colucci and Julia Sepulveda rounded out the NU record book with a time of 3:27.11. 

In light of last year's success, Alvarez expects many of those records to be short lived.

"We are going to break more records than we did last year," said Alvarez. "We're definitely a team to look out for."


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