Simmons Swimming & Diving was defeated on the road by host Elms College, 137-120, on Saturday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference meet, the Sharks' first of the season. The Blazers saw eight program records drop, five of them individual performances by freshmen, in their victory.

"This was a very close meet against one of the teams that we respect most," said Head Coach Mindy Williams. "We knew that Elms would have a strong line-up and that every point would matter, so I was pleased to see people battling to the wall and finishing races hard. We will face off with Elms in a month at the GNAC Championship, which I imagine will be a show-down between the two teams."      

The teams split the relays, with Simmons winning the Freestyle relay and Elms taking the Medley title. Simmons dominated the backstroke events with senior Virginia Bette (Southbury, Conn.) and junior Steph Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.) placing first and second in both the 50 and the 100 Back. Bitzas secured another second place finish in the 200 IM.

The Sharks executed some exciting distance swims; sophomore Molly Bohannon (Westbrook, Conn.) had her longest distance debut in the 800 Free, finishing second overall with a New England Qualifying time. Senior Hannah McQuillan (Florence, Mass.) finished second in the 400 Free, knocking 8 seconds off her time from last weekend.

The most exciting race of the meet was the 100 Butterfly, where the top four finishers touched the wall within one second, with senior Nellie Jackson (Dorchester, Mass.) securing second place for the Sharks.     

Freshman Amy Davis (Southbury, Conn.) had an impressive 200 Freestyle swim, battling for second place and qualifying for New England's by two seconds.

"The team made a big jump in yardage this week and everyone responded differently; some positive and some negative," said Williams. "The times were fairly consistent with where we were last weekend and I think after a little bit of recovery time, they'll drop for the Regis Invitational next weekend."