Singleton Breaks the 400 IM Record Again; Swimming & Diving Sits Fifth after Day Two of MIT Invitational

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- First year Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) broke the school record for the 400-yard individual medley for the second time of the day to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team at the MIT Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational at the Al '51 and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool in Cambridge, Mass.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- First year Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) broke the school record for the 400-yard individual medley for the second time of the day to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team at the MIT Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational at the Al '51 and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool in Cambridge, Mass.

The Sharks are currently in fifth place with a team score of 221 points. Tufts University leads the meet with 842 points with host Massachusetts Institute of Technology standing second with 816.5 points.

Competitors who placed among the top 30 in the morning preliminaries all advanced to the evening finals with the top 20 marks figuring in the night's team scoring.

Singleton placed fourth in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:40.31 to eclipse her own record that was set in the morning session by nearly a full second. Senior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) scored with a 10th-place showing on a personal-record time of 4:45.95 in the event, while classmate Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) clocked in at 4:53.49 to place 15th. Sophomore Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) finished 18th with a mark of 5:01.17.

Junior Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) also finished fourth on the night with a time of 1:55.92 in the 200-yard freestyle. Senior Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) scored with a seventh-place showing on a time of 1:57.16 and classmate Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) finished 13th with a time of 1:58.47. Sophomore Maria Soraghan (East Hampstead, N.H.) placed 17th with a time of 1:58.92 in the event. 

Sophomore Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.85 and Fleming touched the wall at 25.11 to finish 16th for Simmons.

Erichsen also scored points in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.65 to finish 14th for the Sharks. Fleming contributed additional points for Simmons with a 16th-place effort in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.83 and Singleton recorded a time of 1:01.41 to finish 19th. Leedham placed 19th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.74.

Sophomore Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) led the divers for the Sharks with 169.15 points to place 15th on the three-meter board, while junior Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) scored 159.35 to place 18th. First year Natalie Krieg (Cambridge, Mass.) tallied 148.45 points to finish in 20th place.

The Sharks capped night by finishing 15th in the 400-yard medley relay with Fleming swimming the opening backstroke, followed by Erichsen's breaststroke, Singleton's butterfly clip and List's freestyle anchorleg to combine on a time of 4:08.08.

Simmons returns to the pool tomorrow for the final day of the MIT Winter Invitational, beginning with the day's preliminaries at 10:00 a.m.