Sharks Slide by Westfield State in Final Heat

BOSTON, Mass. -- The 2011 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women?s Swimming and Diving Championships and Men?s Invitational are underway as the Simmons Sharks lead the Women?s field with 136 points, followed by Elms College with 97, Saint Joseph College (Conn.) with 82, Saint Joseph?s College (Maine) posting 52, Regis College with 42, Norwich University with 27, and Husson University posting 26 points to round out the teams after the first day of competition. BOSTON, Mass. -- Simmons Swimming and Diving finished first and second in the 200 Freestyle Relay to overtake the Westfield State University Owls 150-144 in the final event of the meet Wednesday evening at the Holmes Sports Center. The Sharks move to 6-4 on the season with the win as the team celebrated its four seniors, Whitney Leonard (West Roxbury, Mass.), Elise Grover (Norwood, Mass.), Suzie Quinlan (Needham, Mass.), and Steph Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.). BOSTON, Mass. -- Simmons Swimming and Diving will travel to White River Junction, Vt. to compete in the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association Championships at the Upper Valley Aquatics Center this weekend, beginning Friday, February 17th. The Sharks had 14 swimmers qualify for the Championships this year.
Posted: Jan 25, 2012

BOSTON, Mass. -- Simmons Swimming and Diving finished first and second in the 200 Freestyle Relay to overtake the Westfield State University Owls 150-144 in the final event of the meet Wednesday evening at the Holmes Sports Center. The Sharks move to 6-4 on the season with the win as the team celebrated its four seniors, Whitney Leonard (West Roxbury, Mass.), Elise Grover (Norwood, Mass.), Suzie Quinlan (Needham, Mass.), and Steph Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.).

Sharks junior Molly Bohannon (Westbrook, Conn.) finished first in the 1000 Freestyle by forty seconds, bringing home 11 points for Simmons. Bohannon added a second place finish in the 100 Fly to teammate Amy Davis (Southbury, Conn.), who captured the win. A. Davis also took home top honors in the 50 Fly and finished second in the 100 IM.

Sophomore Jen Collins (Trumbull, Conn.) broke her own school record with a win in the 100 Free and also won the 50 and 500 Freestyle events earning an impressive 27 individual points for the Sharks. Freshman Chloe Davis (Merrimack, N.H.) won the 200 Free and took second in the 100 Backstroke.

The Owls were led by Amanda Labriola, who placed first in the 50 Back, Kristen LaMotte who took first place in the 50 and 100 Breaststroke and 100 IM, and Jenna Tasse who finished first in the 100 Free.

Westfield diver Kim Schmidt scored over 250 points on the both the 1 meter and 3 meter boards earning 18 individual points followed by Katie Sterpka and Katie Jwanowski.

The Sharks were down with just the 200 Freestyle Relay remaining, needing a first and second place win to take the meet. The relay team of C. Davis, Marissa Soucy (Mont Vernon, N.H.), Hillary Wong (Quincy, Mass.), and Nicole Eskenazi (Goleta, Calif.) swam their best just out touched fellow Sharks relay of Grover, Bohannon, Anne Karasek (Brookline, Mass.) and Joleigh Ferro (Pittsfield, Mass.) in an exciting one, two finish to win the meet.

The Sharks return to the pool on Sunday, January 29th when the team travels to Western New England for an 11:00 a.m. start. The Owls travel to Saint Joseph College on Saturday, January 28th for a 1:00 p.m. meet.

Scoreboard