Swimming & Diving Falls to Wellesley 171-96

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England women's swimming team went back-and-forth with Simmons College all afternoon, before the Nor'easters secured a 132-130 win over the Sharks on Saturday at the Campus Center.

WELLESLEY, Mass. ? The Wellesley College swimming and diving team cruised to a 171-96 dual meet victory over the visiting Simmons Sharks on Saturday afternoon at Chandler Pool. The win lifts the Blue to 3-1 overall, while the Sharks fall to 2-2.

WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College swimming and diving team cruised to a 171-96 dual meet victory over the visiting Simmons Sharks on Saturday afternoon at Chandler Pool. The win lifts the Blue to 3-1 overall, while the Sharks fall to 3-2.

Wellesley touched first in all 14 swimming events, while taking top honors in both diving events as well. At the swimming end of the pool, the Blue were led by sophomore Tiffany Chen who recorded the fastest time in three individual events, while first-years Dorothy Ren and Charlotte Harris touched first in two events each.

Chen recorded a win in the 1,000-free in 11:46.62, while also touching first in both the 50-back (29.64) and the 200-back (2:17.39). Ren was the winner in the 50-free in 25.37, while also swimming a 5:31.19 in the 500-free. Harris won the 200-IM in a time of 2:22.8, with a 2:37.92 in the 200-breast.

Also earning first-place finishes for the Blue were junior Mariam Amirkhanashvili, sophomore Kendra Waters, and first-year Ieva Galinyte. Amirkhanashvili won the 50-fly in 27.80, Waters was the winner in the 50-breast (32.96), while Galinyte won the 200-free in a time of 2:00.87.

Elsewhere for the Blue, junior Gabriela Kovacikova, sophomore Grace Bachman and first-year Theresa Mitchell all recorded both a first-place and a second-place finish at the event. Kovacikova touched first in the 200-back in 2:15.70, while taking second in the 50-back in 30.23. Bachman won the 100-free in 58.26, and took second in the 200-fly (2:23.84), while Mitchell was the winner in the 200-fly in 2:19.42, and took second in the 50-fly (27.80).

Wellesley also touched first in both relay events. In the 400-yard medley relay, the team of Galinyte, first-year Emily Sotomayor, Mitchell and Harris, recorded a time of 4:18.28, while the team of Amirkhanashvili, Hamilton, Kovacikova and Bachman swam a 4:24.02. In the 200-free relay, Wellesley's "A" team of Ren, Kovacikova, Mitchell, and Amirkhanashvili picked up a time of 1:44.73.

Simmons was paced by junior Jen Collins (Trumbull, Conn.) who recorded the second-fastest time in two events, while also swimming on the second-place 200 free relay team. She swam the 50-free in a time of 26.22, while swimming the 500-free in 5:36.30.

Also picking up second place finishes for Simmons were senior Anne Karasek (Brookline, Mass.) and first-year Maddy McDonald (Westwood, Mass.). Karasek touched second in the 1,000-free, in 12:33.16, dropping close to 20 seconds from her previous time this season and finished just a fraction of a second away from the NEISDA B-cut in that event. McDonald placed second in the 100-free in 58.68. She also led off the final 200 Free Relay and led the Sharks to a strong second place finish.

"Wellesley is a very strong team, and we knew that going into the meet. Our goal was to take advantage of their competitiveness and have some good races," said Head Coach Mindy Williams.

Wellesley is back in action on November 28th against Tufts University. The swimmers will travel to Medford to face the Jumbos, while the divers will host their meet at Chandler Pool. Both events begin at 7:00pm. The Sharks return to action on Tuesday, November 27th with their home opener versus Babson College.