BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons College women's swimming & diving team won 13 of 16 events outright and took the top three spots in five events to earn a sweep over visiting Regis (Mass.), 209-83, and Colby-Sawyer College, 233-35, this morning at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium in Boston, Mass. The Regis men scored a 133-63 victory over Colby-Sawyer, while the women earned a 180-64 win over Colby-Sawyer. The Sharks improve to 8-2 on the season, while Regis women are now 4-4 and the Colby-Sawyer women fall to 5-6. The Regis men improve to 3-3 and Colby-Sawyer dips to 0-7.
Senior Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.), junior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) and Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) all won a pair of events to lead Simmons.
Morris was a part of the Sharks' winning 200-yard medley relay to open the meet, swimming the butterfly leg following sophomore Laura List's (Bedford, Mass.) backstroke and senior Natalie Giraldi's (Bedford, N.H.) breaststroke, before junior Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) closed with the anchor freestyle to combine on a time of 1:55.49. Morris later won the 100-yard butterfly by more than three seconds with a mark of 1:01.95 and finished first in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 27.39. She also finished third in the 100-yard IM, but was second in the head-to-head meet with Colby-Sawyer as Erichsen turned in a season-best winning effort of 1:04.67 to nip Regis senior Jessica Higgins (Peabody, Mass.) by nine one-hundreths of a second. Erichsen previously won the 100-yard breaststroke by more than two seconds with a time of 1:11.60. Scholand dominated the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.84 to win by almost nine seconds, before winning the 500-yard freestyle at 5:23.61. Scholand capped the meet by helping Simmons earn a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Fleming swimming the lead clip, followed by first year Maria Soraghan (East Hampstead, N.H.) and List on the anchor leg for a time of 1:43.78.
Junior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) won the first individual event of the day for the Sharks by almost 23 seconds with a time of 11:16.51 to capture the 1000-yard freestyle, while first year Elizabeth Bartlett (Richmond, Mass.) touched the wall first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a personal-record time of 33.73. List was a winner for Simmons as well with a time of 25.77 to take the 50-yard freestyle by just over a tenth of a second. Soraghan added an individual win to her day with a first-place effort in the 100-yard freestyle on a time of 56.63.
Sophomore Elisabeth McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.) finished first on the one-meter diving board for Regis with a total of 231.25 to win by a half point over first year Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.), who's score of 230.75 was a career best for the Sharks. The pair swapped places on the three-meter board with Manjikian posting a total of 209.15 to win the event to McQuaid's second place effort of 199.25. Sophomore Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) scored a personal-best 192.80 points to place third on the one-meter board for Simmons.
Higgins aforementioned effort in the 100-IM was good for a win against Colby-Sawyer and her time of 1:04.22 topped all competitors in the 100-yard backstroke. She also added another triumph over Colby-Sawyer to give her three over the Chargers, following a time of 2:09.63 in the 200-yard freestyle. First year Amy Collins (Hanson, Mass.) was also a multiple-winner against Colby-Sawyer with wins in the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke events on times of 37.57 and 1:24.23, respectively. She finished fourth in each event against Simmons. Sophomore Gloria Sutton (Suffield, Conn.) topped Colby-Sawyer in the 1000-yard freestyle with a mark of 11:59.02, while Katherine Mariano (Newton, Mass.) took the 100-yard butterfly against Colby-Sawyer with a time of 1:10.73. Sophomore Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.) scored a win over Colby-Sawyer in the 50-yard freestyle (27:01), while senior Ashley DeRoche (North Reading, Mass.) finished first against Colby-Sawyer in the 100-yard freestyle (1:00.56). Sophomore Ryan Moran (Arlington, Mass.) also picked up a win vs. Colby-Sawyer with a time of 6:11.49 in the 500-yard freestyle.
First year Jinnae Jang (Fall River, Mass.) led Colby-Sawyer with the best time of any women's swimmer in the meet to win the 50-yard backstroke at 29.41. Her time of 27.81 was good for first against Regis in the 50-yard butterfly as well.
The Regis men won 10 of 14 events and was led by first year Grant Kollien (Acton, Mass.) with three individual victories. He won the first individual event with a time of 11:26.12 to own the 1000-yard freestyle by more than 26 seconds and turned right around to win the 200-yard freestyle in the next event by 19 seconds with a mark of 2:04.12. He later posted a 10-plus second win in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:28.32. Junior Joshua Unas (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and senior Nick Rainville (Reading, Mass.) were both multiple winners for Regis as well. Unas finished first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 30 seconds flat, before earning a triumph in the 100-yard breaststroke on a time of 1:05.01. Rainville touched the wall first in the 100-yard butterfly at 56.91 and later won the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 54.60. Sophomore Paul Brennan (Rumford, R.I.) registered a win in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.40 and senior Ryan Tinney (Manchester, Conn.) placed first in the 50-yard butterfly with a mark of 28.69. Junior Connor Schwarze (Melrose, Mass.), Unas, Tinney and Brennan combined to win the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:54.21 to open the meet.
First year Garrett Scahill (Manville, R.I.) topped the field in the 50-yard backstroke for Colby-Sawyer with a time of 29.14, while senior Mason Amitrano (West Greenwich, R.I.) placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.30. First year Steve Moody (Gloucester, Mass.), Amitrano, senior Chris Manwaring (Alstead, N.H.) and Scahill closed out the meet with a combined time of 1:43.82 to take the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Simmons returns to the pool on Saturday, January 20 when it heads to Standish, Maine to take on Saint Joseph's College (Maine) with Western New England University for a 12:00 p.m. start, while Regis heads to Chicopee, Mass. for a noon meet at Elms College and Colby-Sawyer hosts Husson University on the same day at 12:00 p.m.