BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) won three individual events for the second straight week to lead the Simmons College women's swimming & diving team to a 216-72 victory over visiting University of New England this afternoon at the Holmes Sports Center in Boston, Mass. The Sharks improve to 5-2 on the season, while the Nor'Easters fall to 3-2.
Simmons won 15 of 16 events and turned in a 1-2-3 finish in two events.
Sophomore Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) and first year diver Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) each won both events they were entered in to score 18 points for the Sharks, while senior Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.), first year Haley Summers (Hudson, N.H.) and sophomore Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) all registered first place finishes to go with a second-place effort for 13-point outings.
Senior Kayla Burgess (Kingston, Mass.) scored 15 points to lead University of New England with a first place finish in addition to a pair of third-place showings. UNE also got a pair of second-place swims from sophomores McKenna Riley (Crozet, Va.) and Faith Belleavoine (Chepachet, R.I.) to tally eight points apiece.
Erichsen led off the meet on the backstroke leg of the Sharks' winning 200-yard medley relay, preceding Giraldi on the breaststroke leg, first year Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) on the butterfly and List on the anchoring freestyle clip to combine for a mark of 1:57.78 to win by just under five seconds.
Erichsen won the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 30.79, before taking the 500-yard freestyle in a personal-record shattering time of 5:29.55 to win by more than 28 seconds for Simmons. The junior capped the meet with a mark of 4:58.53 to edge classmate Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) by less than two-tenths of a second.
Scholand cruised to a 47-plus second victory in the 1650-freestyle with a time of 17:47.84 to lead a Sharks' 1-2-3 finish. The transfer showed her range later in the meet, touching the wall first in the 100-yard freestyle to win by more than a second with a time of 57.45. Manjikian's two victories came on the diving board for Simmons. She edged teammate Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) by just over three points, scoring 175.30 points to Samaniego's tally of 172.40. Manjikian put together a career-best six-dive set on the three-meter board to score 207 points to gain the win. Samaniego placed second with a personal-best score of 175.20.
Giraldi captured the 50-yard breaststroke by more than two seconds with a time of 33.12 and later finished second in the 500-yard freestyle for the Sharks, while List won the 100-yard backstroke by less than half a second over Leedham with a time of 1:05.44. Summers posted her first collegiate victory with a time of 28.84 in the 50-yard butterfly and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle, earlier in the meet.
Simmons won the first five races of the day, before Burgess came out on top in the 100-yard butterfly for University of New England, with a time of 1:02.18. She later picked up third-place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke and the 400-yard IM.
First year Annie Lam (Natick, Mass.) recorded her first collegiate victory for the Sharks, clocking in at 2:11.22 to win the 200-yard freestyle by just under four-tenths of a second, while fellow rookie Maria Soraghan (East Hampstead, N.H.) finished ahead of the field in the 50-yard freestyle to lead a 1-2-3 Simmons sweep with a time of 25.73 to edge List by just over two-tenths of a second. First year Elizabeth Bartlett (Richmond, Mass.) was one of five rookies to win an individual event for Simmons after taking the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:16.30.
The Sharks closed out the meet with a seven-plus second win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Scholand leading the way, followed by Summers, Lam and Giraldi to post a mark of 1:45.43 ahead of Simmons 'B' relay squad.
The Sharks return to the pool after a two-week hiatus when they host the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships on December 2-3, while UNE heads to Bridgewater, Mass. to take on Bridgewater State University on December 2 at 12:00 p.m.