Simmons Swimming & Diving dropped their first meet of the new year to host Mount Holyoke College, 175-119. Senior Amanda Dirksmeier (Marshfield, Mass.), swept the diving events with scores of 210.45 off the one-meter board and 221.70 off the three-meter board to earn 18 point for the Sharks.
Senior Virginia Bette (Southbury, Conn.) added a win in the 500-yard freestyle (5:46.93), and added second place in the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.59) later in the meet. The Sharks also saw a win from junior Steph Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.) in the 100-yard IM (1:15.97), followed by teammates Marissa Soucy, Suzie Quinlan and Rachel Mullen finishing 2-3-4.
Simmons transfer Jen Collins (Trumbull, Conn.) swam to a speedy first place tie in the 50-yard freestyle (26.45), and took third place in the 100-yard free (59.81).
Senior Hannah McQuillan (Florence, Mass.) earned a second place finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:08.63.
Freshman Amy Davis (Southbury, Conn.), senior Nellie Jackson (Dorchester, Mass.) and freshman Taylor Nealand (Francestown, N.H.) finished 2-3-4 in the 100-yard butterfly to grab nine more Simmons points. Nealand later earned third place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:21.19), and Jackson swam to a second place finish in the 50-yard butterfly (30.00).
"The team just returned from a week of rigorous training down south," said Head Coach Mindy Williams. "Some athletes responded well to high yardage, others will need rest before they'll respond. All in all, I'm pleased with how the team did, but I'm looking forward to seeing what times they'll post after a couple recovery days. Our women had a lot of confidence going into this meet after a week of heavy training. I attribute a lot of our success to their enthusiasm and attitude."
For Mount Holyoke, sophomore Madeline Magee grabbed first place in the100-yard freestyle (58.95), the 100-yard breaststroke (1:17.80) and the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.58).
Lauren Williams collected individual victories in the 50-yard freestyle (26.45) and the 50-yard butterfly (28.93). Meanwhile, Seanne Ng posted top times in the 50 (30.03) and 100-yard (1:06.58) backstroke events after joining forces with Bowers, sophomore Lindsey Kanno and first year Joselyn Auxer to win the 200-yard medley relay (2:01.10). Kanno also claimed victory in the 200-yard freestyle (2:08.42).
Simmons will return to action at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Mount Holyoke will swim again on Wednesday, when they visit Trinity College at 4:00 p.m.