SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. - The Simmons College women's swimming & diving team placed third at the 2015 New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship at the Tootell Aquatic Center on the campus of University of Rhode Island in South Kingston, R.I.
The third day session for the championships was canceled due to complications as a result of the recent snow storm in Southern New England. The results from the first two days of the meet serve as the final point scoring for the championship.
The Sharks placed third for the second straight year with 725 points. Keene State College won the NEISDA crown with 1146.5 points, while Roger Williams University finished second with 998.5 points. Saint Michael's College scored 580 points to place fourth, while Eastern Connecticut State University compiled 489 points for a fifth-place showing.
Simmons broke six school records during the meet, including four individual events. Six Sharks earned All-NEISDA status in 12 different events. The top eight finishers in the individual events and the top four times in relay events all earn All-NEISDA designation and receive medals.
Sophomores Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Shylee Stewart (Eastham, Mass.) as well as first year Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) all earned five medals during the weekend, while first year Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) won four medals. Senior Joleigh Ferro (Pittsfield, Mass.) and sophomore Hannah Plourde (Westfield, Mass.) each earned a medal for the meet.
Giraldi won the 50-yard breaststroke championship, while setting the school mark in the preliminaries of the event with a time of 30.63. The rookie also placed third in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:07.16.
Swisher placed second in a pair of events, clocking in with a school-record time of 1:55.15 in the 200-freestyle, while hitting the wall in the 50-freestyle with a mark of 24.18.
Stewart locked up fourth place in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:07.88 and finished fifth in the 50-freestyle after hitting the wall in 24.62.
Morris finished fifth in the 50-butterfly with a new school standard of 27.56, while Plourde turned in a seventh-place showing in the 400-individual medley with a time of 5:04.95.
The quartet of Swisher, Giraldi, Morris and Stewart finished third in both the 200 and 400-medley relays and set school records in both races. The four clocked a 1:48.73 in the 200-medley, while registering a time of 3:57.36 in the 400-medley.
Stewart, Giraldi, Ferro and Swisher placed second in the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:39.31.
Simmons will return to compete on February 27 when it travels to Pittsburgh, Pa. to vie for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship.