BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons University women's swimming team won 11 of 13 events to defeat visiting Merrimack College, 168-69, in a dual meet today at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium on the campus of Simmons in Boston, Mass. The Sharks improve to 10-2 on the season to notch double-digit victories for the sixth straight season, while the Warriors fall to 1-3 in dual meet action.
Junior Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.), senior Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) and first year Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) all won a pair of events to lead Simmons.
Scholand also added a fourth-place showing to give her a meet-high 20 points for the Sharks. She won the first individual event of the day by over 23 seconds with a mark of 18:03.64 to take the 1650-yard freestyle and added a second triumph later in the meet when she touched the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:16.51. Fleming dominated the 200-yard freestyle by more than five seconds with a time of 2:00.04, before winning the 100-yard freestyle by more than a second at 55:45. Singleton cruised to a six-plus second victory in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:48.50 and left no doubt in the 200-yard butterfly with a winning mark of 2:20.96 for another six-plus second margin.
Simmons swept both diving events with sophomore Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) nipping junior teammate Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) by just over a point on the one-meter board, 200.30-199.05. First year Natalie Krieg (Cambridge, Mass.) was right behind with a personal-best 191.00 points. Krieg saved her best for last, winning her first collegiate event with a career-high 208.05 points on the three-meter board. Manjikian finished second with 199.75 points and Samaniego tallied a season-high of 196.70.
Senior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) touched the wall first in the 500-yard freestyle for the Sharks, winning by more than 16 seconds with a time of 5:26.63, while classmate Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) led a Simmons one-two-three sweep in the 200-yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:35.70 to win by more than four seconds. The Sharks closed the meet with a three-plus second win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Fleming opening the relay, followed by Singleton, Simpson and junior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) to combine on a time of 1:43.58.
Senior Maeve McGowan (Mansfield, Mass.) led Merrimack with 11 points for the day, including a first-place showing in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.02. Sophomore Erin Claflin (Newton, Mass.) placed third in the race to give the Warriors 12 points for the event. McGowan also finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle.
Merrimack opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay behind junior Andrea Taylor's (Ludlow, Mass.) lead backstroke leg, followed by junior Hailey Keelips (Rowayton, Conn.) in the breaststroke, junior Lucia Quesada Nylen (Malden, Mass.) in the butterfly and McGowan's freestyle anchor to contribute to a mark of 1:58.83. The Warriors placed third in the opening relay as well to take a 13-4 lead to open the meet. Merrimack held a 19-17 margin after two events, but the Sharks pulled ahead for good at 30-25, following three events.
Simmons returns to the pool on Saturday, January 19 when it hosts Mount Holyoke College at 12:00 p.m., while the Warriors travel to Wellesley, Mass. on January 25 to take on Wellesley College.