SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Junior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) on all three events that she entered to lead the Simmons College women's swimming & diving team to a 212-88 victory over host Mount Holyoke College this afternoon in South Hadley, Mass. The Sharks finish their dual-meet season with an 11-2 record, while the Lyons fall to 2-7.
Simmons won all 14 swimming events on the day and swept the top three spots in three races, while Mount Holyoke placed first in both diving events.
Simpson began her day by winning the 200-yard freestyle by more than three seconds with a time of 2:01.65 for the Sharks, before dominating the 500-yard freestyle by more than 18 ticks with a mark of 5:24.38. She capped the day by touching the wall first in the 200-yard individual medley with a personal-best time of 2:21.93. Sophomore Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) and junior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) also won multiple events for Simmons with a pair of victories each. Scholand won the first individual event of the day, scorching the field by just under 24 seconds in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:49.94 and later won the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 1:02.87. Erichsen posted personal-record times in both winning events, placing first in the 100-yard backstroke by more than two seconds with a time of 1:02.43 and adding a win in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:32.92 to finish first by just under six seconds.
The Sharks began the meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay with first year Emily Buttafuoco (Londonderry, N.H.) opening the race with the lead backstroke, followed by senior Natalie Giraldi's (Bedford, N.H.) breaststroke and senior Michaela Morris' (Duxbury, Mass.) butterfly. Sophomore Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) swam the freestyle anchor leg to touch the wall first at 1:54.34 to give Simmons the race by more than four seconds. The Sharks cruised in the othe relay event to close out the meet, winning the 200-yard freestyle relay with a combined time of 1:44.17 behind List, junior Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) and first years Haley Summers (Hudson, N.H.) and Maria Soraghan (East Hampstead, N.H.).
Giraldi captured the 100-yard breaststroke for Simmons by more than three seconds with a time of 1:09.18, before first year Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) posted a triumph in the 200-yard butterfly by more than two seconds with a time of 2:21.19. Soraghan took the 50-yard freestyle in 26.17 and List finished first in the 100-yard freestyle by more than three seconds with a season-best time of 55.78. Fleming swam the 200-yard backstroke for the first time in her career and posted a win with a time of 2:17.51 to finish ahead of the field by exactly three seconds.
Sophomore diver Samantha Nemivant (Scottsdale, Ariz.) ended the Sharks' event winning streak at seven with a victory on the one-meter board for the Lyons. Her total of 251.60 left Simmons first year Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) in second place with a score of 202.15. Nemivant and Manjikian repeated their respective finishes on the three-meter board with Nemivant scoring 252.20 points for the top mark ahead of Manjikian's total of 194.75 points.
Simmons returns to the pool on Thursday, February 15 when it travels to Kingston, R.I. for the four-day New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championships, hosted by University of Rhode Island, while Mount Holyoke heads to Northampton, Mass. on February 10 to compete against Smith College at 1:00 p.m.