BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons College women's swimming & diving team defeated visiting Western New England University, 210-65, and Saint Joseph's College (Maine), 217-58, in a double-dual meet this afternoon at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium in Boston, Mass. WNEU defeated SJC, 151-99. The Sharks improve to a perfect 11-0, while Western New England is now 4-5 and Saint Joseph's falls to 1-6.
Simmons won 15 of 16 events vs. WNEU, while winning every event over the Monks. The Sharks also swept the top three spots in four races.
Sophomore Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) led all competitors with 27 points, while winning three events for Simmons. Fleming won the 50-yard backstroke by more than three seconds with a mark of 29.67 and took the 100-yard freestyle by more than four ticks with a time of 55.77. Fleming out-touched Western New England junior Erika Sheinhait by just six-tenths of a second to earn a win in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 28.69. First years Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) and Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) and junior Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) each won a pair of events for the Sharks. List won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.37, before dominating the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:22.07 to win by just under six seconds and lead a Simmons sweep. Giraldi led the Sharks to a sweep in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in at 2:34.91, before taking home a win in the 100-yard individual medley with a mark of 1:05.26 as part of another Simmons sweep. Samaniego earned first in both diving events, scoring 183.75 points on the one meter board and later tallied 162.50 points on the three-meter board.
Sophomore Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) cruised to a victory in the 1650-yard freestyle for the Sharks, winning the event by just a hair under two minutes with a mark of 18:19.34. Senior Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:03.18 and sophomore Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) topped the field in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 34.39. Junior Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) registered a time of 2:20.17 to win the 200-yard butterfly by more than eight seconds, while senior Sarah Price (New York, N.Y.) claimed first in the 500-yard freestyle by more than four seconds with a time of 5:45.54.
Swisher, seniors Hannah Plourde (Westfield, Mass.) and Julie Nguyen (Salem, Mass.) and Price combined to win the 200-yard medley relay for Simmons with a time of 2:01.80.
Western New England capped the meet by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay with Sheinhait taking the opening leg, followed by first year Emily Elliott (Cortland, N.Y.), junior Jacquelyn Peterson (Beverly, Mass.) and first year Brittany Bosma (North Port, Fla.) to combine on a time of 1:48.99. Sheinhait led WNEU over Saint Joseph's with three wins against it, including first-place showings in the 200-yard freestyle (2:12.44), the 100-yard freestyle (1:00.05) and the 50-yard butterfly (28.75). Her time in the 100-free was good for second against the Sharks. Peterson scored a pair of victories over the Monks, finishing first head-to-head in the 1650-yard freestyle (21:20.50) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:53.86), while Elliott topped Saint Joseph's in the 50 (35.53) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:48.74) events.
Sophomore Julia Rowlett (Saco, Maine) led SJC with a win over Western New England in the 200-yard backstroke (2:32.84) and finished with 16 points against the Golden Bears, while senior Lauren Prue (Glenburn, Maine) was the top finisher between the two schools in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:13.24.
Simmons returns to the pool on Saturday, January 28 when it hosts Mount Holyoke College at the Holmes Sports Center on Senior Day at 12:00 p.m., while Western New England hosts University of Saint Joseph on January 27 at 5:00 p.m. and the Monks host Gordon College and Husson University on February 4 at 1:00 p.m.