Simmons Swimming & Diving finished out the weekend with an 11th place finish at the New England Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, held at UMass Dartmouth's Tripp Athletic Center Natatorium February 20-22.
The Sharks fielded a team of thirteen athletes this year, up from nine qualifiers from Simmons in 2008.
"The team had fun at this meet—they really got fired up for their races," said Head Coach Mindy Williams. "We had a few tough losses during the dual meet season, two of those were against UMass Dartmouth and Plymouth State, but this past weekend the Sharks were able to hold off both teams. The end of the meet was emotional. These women have worked so hard since September and it showed!"
Place Points School
1 899 Keene State College
2 830 Bentley University
3 514 Saint Michael's College
4 512 Roger Williams University
5 486 Western Connecticut State Univ.
6 481 University of New England
7 468.50 Eastern Conn. State U.
8 434 Westfield State College
9 316.50 Gordon College Swim Team
10 297 Bridgewater State College
11 251 Simmons College
12 202 Umass Dartmouth
13 189 Plymouth State University
14 141 Assumption College
15 130 Saint Joseph College-CT
16 102 Western New England College
17 99 St. Joseph's College of Maine
18 62 Norwich
19 54 Colby-Sawyer College
20 37 Elms College
21 20 Husson University
22 9 Regis Swimming & Diving
Sunday Finals Recap
Junior Brittany Torelli (Waterbury, Conn.) and senior Erica Boswell (Salem, Mass.) swam to second and fourth place finishes in the 100-yard Freestyle C final, earning nine points for the Sharks. Torelli touched the wall in 58.33 and Boswell turned in a 59.21.
Senior captain Keri-Ann Arsenault (Chester, N.H.) powered her way to a fourth place finish in the grueling 1,650-yard Freestyle, with a time of 18:50.85, earning 20 points. Sophomore Hannah McQuillan (Florence, Mass.) swam to a third place finish in the C final in 20:00.77, taking four points.
Torelli touched the wall first in the 200-yard Breaststroke C final, turning in a 2:42.31 and earning her team seven points.
Junior Caitlin Urciuoli (Wethersfield, Conn.) grabbed ten points for her fifth place finish in the B final, swimming her way to a 2:25.78, almost a second quicker than her prelim time. Senior captain Julia Morrison (West Hartford, Conn.) snagged a fifth place finish in the C final, earning two points with a time of 2:31.05.
Junior Amanda Dirksmeier (Marshfield, Mass.) earned 13 points representing Simmons in the 3-meter springboard finals, diving her way to a score of 256.95.
The Simmons 400-yard Freestyle Relay team of Urciuoli, sophomore Chennelle Jackson (Dorchester, Mass,), Boswell and Arsenault sliced almost four seconds from their prelim time, placing first in the C final, good for 14 points. Jackson split a 59.06, 3.5 seconds faster than her lifetime best. The Sharks finished in 3:54.30, only half a second from the Simmons school record.
CLICK HERE for complete Sunday finals results.
Sunday Prelims Recap
In the 100-yard Freestyle, Torelli and Boswell qualified in 14th (58.45) and 17th (59.02) place, respectively.
In the 50-yard Backstroke, senior Jenny Erviti (Warwick, Mass.) finished a second faster than her seed time, but missed a trip to the finals by just one spot, finishing in 19th place.
In the 200-yard Breaststroke, Torelli dove in for her second event of the morning, swimming to a 13th place qualifying finish with a time of 2:42.08.
The 200-yard Butterfly was stacked with Simmons athletes. Urciuoli swam to a 12th place finish with a time of 2:26.86, and Morrison finished in 18th place with a time of 2:31.62, quicker than her seed time by almost a full second. Both women qualified for finals.
In the 100-yard Individual Medley, three Sharks were unable to sprint to a qualifying finish. Boswell bettered her seed time to swim a 1:08.98, finishing 19th; senior Julia Herman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) knocked almost two seconds from her seed time, swimming to 21st in 1:09.94; freshman Stephanie Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.) had a fast swim too, touching the wall in 1:12.20 and finishing 33rd out of 40 competitors.
Two Simmons divers qualified for a trip to New England's this year in the 3-meter springboard. Amanda Dirksmeier qualified for Sunday's finals with an 8th place prelim dive (256.95). Junior Heather O'Connell (Longmeadow, Mass.) missed the cut by three spots, finishing 11th with a score of 242.55.
In the last prelim of the morning, the Simmons 400-yard Freestyle Relay team of Urciuoli, Jackson, Boswell and Arsenault swam to a 13th place finish in 3:58.56, earning them a trip to the evening finals.