BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) registered three first-place efforts to lead the Simmons College women's swimming & diving team to a pair of wins in a double-dual meet over visiting Elms College (229-41) and Gordon College (228-33) this afternoon at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium in Boston, Mass. Elms' women defeated Gordon, 106-97, while the Elms' men earned a 148-79 victory over Gordon. Simmons improves to 3-0 on the season to extend its consecutive dual-meet win streak to 15 in a row, while Elms' women stand at 1-1 following its season opening meet, while its men improve to 1-0. The Gordon women fall to 0-2 and its men slip to 0-1.
Simmons won all 16 events it entered and posted 1-2-3 sweeps in seven events.
Erichsen registered the top time in three different races over both teams for the Sharks. The junior began the afternoon by swimming the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay ahead of sophomore Laura List (Bedford, Mass.), who started the relay on the backstroke. First year Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) swam the butterfly leg before sophomore anchor Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) closed for the win in the freestyle leg for a combined time of 1:57.45. Erichsen won the 50-yard backstroke by just under three seconds with a clip of 29.79, before taking the 100-yard breaststroke by almost five seconds with a mark convincing mark of 1:11.78. Erichsen capped the meet by winning the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.49.
Scholand continued her winning ways for Simmons, taking both of her events to remain a perfect 5-0 on the season in individual events. Scholand dominated the field in the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall almost a full seven seconds ahead of her competition with a time of 2:00.15 and later edged teammate Maria Soraghan (East Hampstead, N.H.) in the 100-yard backstroke by a quarter of a second with a mark of 1:03.69. Soraghan added a first-place showing to her day, winning the 1000-yard freestyle by exactly three seconds with a time of 11:05.98.
First year Elizabeth Bartlett (Richmond, Mass.) and Leedham joined Soraghan with pairings of first and second-place finishes as did junior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) and senior Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.). Bartlett won the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 35.32 and finished second in the 100-yard breastroke, while Leedham clocked in a 29.15 to edge Gordon first year Catherine Bee by one one-hundreth of a second for first place in the 50-yard butterfly and added a second-place effort in the 200-yard individual medley. Simpson hit the wall first in the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 5:33.81 to win by nearly 13 seconds and placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle. Giraldi won the 50-yard freestyle in 26.25 and added a second-place showing in the 100-yard freestyle.
Senior Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) outswam the field in the 100-yard butterfly with a clip of 1:04.27 to win by more than three seconds and placed third in the 200-yard individual medley. List won the only race she qualified to place in, with a time of 56.17 to take the 100-yard freestyle.
Scholand, Giraldi, Soraghan and List combined to close the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay on a mark of 1:44.22.
First year diver Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) won both diving events with season-best scores. She shattered her career-high with 201.67 points on the one-meter board and set another lifetime best with a total of 198.67 points on the three-meter board.
Senior Aislinn Carrier (Charlestown, Mass.) and sophomore Kelly Scianna (Milford, Conn.) were the top performers for Elms with a pair of first place efforts against Gordon. Carrier won the 100-yard freestyle (1:01.29) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:26.43), while Scianna recorded winning times of 12:24.80 and 32.85 in the 1000-yard freestyle and 50-yard backstroke, respectively. Gordon saw Bee and junior Caris Lyons (Orrville, Ohio) each tally a pair of first-place finishes against Elms. Lyons defeated Elms and finished second overall in the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.11) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:46.00) and Bee won the 50-yard butterfly (29.16) over Elms to go with a win in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.93. Gordon's Leanne Hallenbeck (Bedford, N.H.) and Hannah Denney (Lemoore, Calif.) each scored wins over Elms in the 50-yard breaststroke (39.32) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:10.81), respectively. First year Brittany North (Palmer, Mass.) recorded a win over Gordon in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:49.58 for Elms.
Senior Nick Bergstrom (Derry, N.H.) led Elms' men with three first-place showings, winning the 50-yard breaststroke (30.15), 100-yard freestyle (50.89) and 50-yard butterfly (25.76), while Gordon senior Jack Cicchelli (Middletown, R.I.) matched him with a trio of triumphs as well. He won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.91, the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:17.65 and capped the individual races with a mark of 2:23.88 to take the 200-yard individual medley. Junior Michael Grippo (Longmeadow, Mass.) won a pair of events for Elms with first-place finishes in the 50-yard backstroke (27.08) and the 100-yard backstroke (59.19), while Aaron Lewis (Mystic, Conn.) won the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle with respective times of 11:35.49 and 5:35.30 for Gordon and followed his 1000 win with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, which was the very next event. First year Eddie Capoldo (Brunswick, Maine) earned his first collegiate victory with a time of 1:59.58 to win the 200-yard freestyle for Elms, while sophomore Jeff Davis (Willow Grove, Pa.) took the 50-yard freestyle in 23.96 for Gordon.
Simmons returns to the pool on Saturday, November 4 when it competes in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Invitational at 1:00 p.m. in Worcester, Mass., while Elms hosts Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on the same day at 11:00 a.m. and Gordon heads to Bridgewater, Mass. on November 18 to take on Bridgewater State University at 1:00 p.m.
