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WELLESLEY, Mass. -- First-year Mic Hujus and junior transfer Adria Horton both tallied victories in three events for the University of New England women's swimming team as the Nor'easters took 4th place out of 10 institutions at the 2024 Little East Conference (LEC) Swimming & Diving Championships, which wrapped up the third day of competition on Sunday (Feb. 18) at the Boston Sports Institute.

The UNE finish was one spot improved from 2023 -- the first season as an affiliate member of the conference.

Eastern Connecticut State University also had its best-ever showing at the championship, capturing the title for the first time with a score of 805. The result ended the 16-year run of Keene State College, which had a total of 780 to finish third right behind Bridgewater State University at 786. The Nor'easters were comfortably next with 533, and Westfield State University rounded out the top five at 324.

The league's coaches voted for major awards after the meet, selecting Hujus as the LEC Rookie of the Year for 2023-24. She had a banner weekend to help pace UNE, with 1st-place efforts in the 50-butterfly (26.16), 100-freestyle (53.77), and 50-backstroke (27.84), and contributing the anchor leg to three relays that secured a medal. In the 50 fly, both Hujus and runner-up Lindsay Weaver of ECSU (-0.33) broke the previous conference record of 26.56, and UNE's 13-year program mark of 26.31 held by Hall of Famer Lizzie Wareham also fell. Hujus lowered her own school record in the 100 free [which was 54.43 entering the year, from 2011] and beat ECSU's Maya Brody by 0.66 seconds. And then Hujus knocked off the LEC standard of 27.97 in the 50 back and lowered her own UNE record [which was 29.08 entering the year, from 2006] while besting Caitlin Guntly of Western New England University by 0.79 seconds. 

Horton swept 1st-place from all of the distance races without trailing at any touch of the wall, and factored in a couple of the aforementioned relays alongside Hujus. In the 500-freestyle (5:23.10), Horton chipped more than 14 seconds from her prelim time and topped KSC's Rory Lee by 9.45 seconds. The pair went one-two again in the 1,650-freestyle (18:57.96), in which Horton won by 12.38 seconds. In the 1,000-freestyle (11:15.81), it was Westfield's Alexa Richter as the next closest, but by 23.18 seconds. The 500 and 1,000 for Horton were both the second-fastest times in UNE program records.

The Nor'easters are now 2-for-2 in the 500 free at the LEC Championship, as Annika Doeppers won it last year.

The 800-freestyle relay (8:21.02), swam by Horton, Katie Durrua, Doeppers, and Hujus, was 2nd-place only to Keene State and notched a school record by 0.79 seconds in the process [previously 8:21.81 from 2022]. Liv Roux, Doeppers, Durrua, and Hujus combined for 3rd-place in the 400-medley relay (4:15.24), while Horton, Elli Donovan, Doeppers, and Hujus teamed up for 3rd-place in the 400-freestyle relay (3:46.41), 3.08 behind the winners.

Other individuals to challenge in event finals:

• Durrua, 4th in the 50-butterfly (28.60), 6th in the 100-butterfly (1:04.58), 8th in the 200-freestyle (2:10.98)
• Tess Zurawski, 5th in the 200-backstroke (2:20.25)
• Meghan Cabral, 6th in the 50-breaststroke (34.07), 7th in the 200-breaststroke (2:44.92), 8th in the 100-breaststroke (1:15.43)
• Roux, 6th in the 200-backstroke (2:20.88), 6th in the 100-backstroke (1:05.10), 7th in the 50-backstroke (29.72)
• Doeppers, 7th in the 50-breaststroke (34.55), 7th in the 100-breaststroke (1:14.78)
• Jess Russell, 8th in the 100-IM (1:08.62)

Each of the other relays finished in the 4th position. The 200-freestyle group (1:43.46) of Hujus, Horton, Donovan, and Roux was 2.01 seconds off the lead pace and 0.17 behind claiming a medal; Hujus' lead-off leg of 24.41 marked the second-fast 50 free in program history. The 200-medley squad (1:58.45) was completed by Roux, Cabral, Durrua, and Donovan.