ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Simmons College swimming & diving team placed 13th at the 2016 Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships after tonight's third day of finals at host United States Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md. 

The Sharks compiled 80 points for the meet to finish five ahead of Le Moyne College. University of Virginia easily won the ECAC Championships with a score of 751.5 to outdistance runner-up Navy's total of 413.5. For the second straight year, Simmons finished as the highest-scoring squad among Division III schools and placed ahead of nine Division I programs.

Simmons' first year Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) placed 17th in the 1650-yard freestyle and broke her own school record with a time of 17:44.67 to eclipse her former mark by more than two seconds.

She was a part of the Sharks' 400-yard freestyle relay squad that finished 10th in the meet to close out the evening. First year Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) swam the opening leg of the race to set the pace for Simmons, followed by Simpson. Sophomore Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) followed on the third leg, before junior Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) swam the final leg to give the Sharks a time of 3:37.77, just missing the school standard by three one-hundreths of a second.