BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) won three individual events and helped win a relay race to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team to a sweep in a double-dual meet over Elms College (239-51) and Gordon College (243-42) this afternoon at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium in Boston, Mass. The Elms women defeated Gordon, 152-94, while the Elms men downed Gordon, 113-101. The Sharks improve to 3-0 on the season, while Gordon's women falls to 0-2 and the men are now 0-1. Elms' women's team is now 1-1, while the men are 1-0.
Simmons won all 16 events over both Gordon and Elms and swept the top three spots in eight different events.
Erichsen began the meet by helping the Sharks to a win in the 200-yard medley relay, swimming the breaststroke ahead of first year Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.), who swam the lead backstroke and before sophomore Anna Leedham's (Lowell, Mass.) butterfly and junior Aine Scholand's (Albuquerque, N.M.) freestyle anchor leg to combine on a time of 1:56.85 to win the relay by nearly 14 seconds. Erichsen won both the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke events with times of 33.32 and 1:11.76, respectively and also added a victory in the 200-yard individual medley with a mark of 2:20.78 to win by nearly seven seconds and contribute a meet-best 27 points for Simmons.
Singleton, Scholand and sophomore Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) each picked up a pair of wins on the day for the Sharks. Singleton won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.65 and clocked in at 1:04.17 to finish first in the 100-yard backstroke. She also helped Simmons close out the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, swimming the second leg of the relay. Senior Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) swam the lead segment, while senior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) and junior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) swam the final two legs to combine on a winning time of 1:45.11.
Scholand touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.32 and dominated the 1000-yard freestyle by more than 35 seconds with a time of 5:20.13. Manjikian led a pair of 1-2-3 finishes for the Sharks diving squad. She scored 218.45 points to win on the one-meter board and tallied 225.70 points to place first on the three-meter board. Junior Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) placed second in both events with scores of 187.50 and 180.00, respectively, while first year Natalie Krieg (Cambridge, Mass.) posted a score of 174.80 to place third on the one-meter board and racked up 170.70 points to finish third on the three-meter board.
Senior Cassie Vietas (Tampa, Fla.) finished first in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 32.07 and added a pair of third-place efforts to score 15 points for Simmons. Simpson scored 14 points for the Sharks, including a first-place showing in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:18.40 and added third and fourth-place efforts. List won the 50-yard freestyle for Simmons with a time of 25.81 and turned in second-place effort, while Fleming finished first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.80 and tacked on a second-place finish. Sophomore Annie Lam (Natick, Mass.) also picked up a win for the Sharks after turning in a time of 29.35 to take the 50-yard butterfly and also added a third-place performance.
Elms won nine events against Gordon to gain victory. Sophomore Brittany North (Palmer, Mass.) led Elms over Gordon and recorded a trio of first-place efforts over the Fighting Scots with wins in the 200-yard freestyle (2:12.86), the 200-yard individual medley (2:34.72) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.93). Junior Kelly Scianna (Milford, Mass.) scored 22 points, including top finishes over Gordon in the 50-yard backstroke at 32.48 and the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 28.13. First year Leah Hopkins (South Hampton, N.H.) won a pair of events with victories in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:18.08 and the 50-yard butterfly with a clip of 32.43 in addition to a third-place effort against Gordon. Sophomore Cricket Cavar (Vernon, Conn.) also captured a win for Elms over Gordon with a time of 39.79 in the 50-yard breaststroke and added a pair of second-place showings with 17 points.
Senior Caris Lyons (Orrville, Ohio) tallied 27 point with three first-place finishes to lead Gordon. She topped the field against Elms in the 1000, 500 and 100-yard freestyle with times of 12:17.70, 5:55.84 and 58.22, respectively. First year Olivia Rose (Naughtingham, N.H.) scored a win over Elms with a time of 1:21.71 in the 100-yard breaststroke and also registered second and third-place efforts to tally 16 points against the Blazers.
The Elms men won six events, but relied on its depth to overcome Gordon. Sophomore Eddie Capoldo (Brunswick, Maine) won all three individual events he entered for the Elms men, taking the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.85, the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 30.34 and also finished first in the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 53.76. First year Nick Taylor (Turners Falls, Mass.) placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.14, while sophomore Matt Nodell (Monson, Mass.) also finished on top in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:22.70.
First year Jason Chang (Taiwan) scored three first-place efforts for Gordon, winning the 50-yard butterfly (26.39), the 50-yard backstroke (26.17) and the 100-yard backstroke (58.38). Junior Aaron Lewis (Mystic, Conn.) placed first in a pair of events, touching the wall first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:24.26 and the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 5:33.28. First year Spencer Guercio (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and senior Caleb Lacson (Parish, N.Y.) also earned first-place finishes for the Fighting Scots. Guercio turned in a time of 2:02.92 in the 200-yard freestyle and Lacson posted a mark of 24.57 in the 50-yard freestyle.
Simmons returns to the pool on Friday, November 2 when it travels to Worcester, Mass. to compete in the WPI Invitational at 6:30 p.m., while Gordon travels to Weston, Mass. to compete against Regis (Mass.) on October 3 at 11:00 a.m. and Elms heads to Standish, Maine on the same day to swim against Saint Joseph's College (Maine) at 12:00 p.m.