SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. - Sophomore Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) shattered the school record for the 200-yard freestyle and the Simmons College women's swimming & diving team remained a strong third place following the second day of the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Championships this evening at the Tootell Aquatic Center on the campus of University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.
The Sharks added to their point total and now stand with 725 points to trail first-place Keene State College (1146.5) and Roger Williams University (998.5). Simmons saw six entrants capture All-NEISDA status and four school records fall on the night.
Swisher was a part of three school records on the night, breaking her first school mark as the lead leg of the 200-yard medley relay, posting a backstroke split of 27.35 to edge her previous record in the 50-backstroke by one one-hundreth of a second. First years Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) and Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) swam the breaststroke and butterfly legs, before sophomore Shylee Stewart (Eastham, Mass.) anchored the last 50 yards with the freestyle to help the unit turn in a third-place time of 1:48.73 to better their own school-record standard set in the morning by more than two seconds. The quartet achieved All-NEISDA status with their effort as one of the top-four relay finishers.
Swisher came back to shatter the school record in the 200-freestyle by over two seconds with a time of 1:55.15 to place second and land All-NEISDA accolades after entering the event as the fifth seed. First year Emily Papp (Newtown, Conn.) finished 11th with a mark of 2:04.17, while sophomore Julie Nguyen (Salem, Mass.) placed 15th with a time of 2:05.55.
Simmons comprised half of the top four finishes in the 100-breaststroke with Giraldi hitting the wall at 1:07.16 to finish third and Stewart right behind at 1:07.88 to place fourth in the event. Both swimmers achieved All-NEISDA recognition.
Morris contributed to the Sharks' record-breaking evening by eclipsing her own school standard in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 27.56 to finish fifth in the event and earn a medal as an All-NEISDA competitor.
Sophomore Hannah Plourde (Westfield, Mass.) also achieved All-NEISDA honors following her seventh-place showing in the 400-individual medley with a time of 5:04.95.
Seniors Joleigh Ferro (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Chloe Davis (Merrimack, N.H.) continued to leave it all out in the pool as their respective careers wind down. Ferro turned in a personal-record time of 1:03.46 in the 100-backstroke to place 13th, while Davis was right behind in 14th place with a personal-best mark of 1:04.23.
Simmons capped the night with a fifth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Davis, Papp, Nguyen and senior Hillary Wong (Quincy, Mass.) swam a time of 8:21.26.
The Sharks will return for the final day of the NEISDA Championships tomorrow (February 15) at 4:30 p.m. for the timed finals. Due to the weather, there will be no preliminaries in the morning, just the timed finals in the late afternoon.