CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Senior Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) placed first in the 1650-yard freestyle to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team to a sixth-place showing following the first day of competition of the MIT Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational at the Al '51 & Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool in Cambridge, Mass. 

The Sharks scored 79 points as a team, while Tufts University registered 310 points to sit in first place after the opening night of events.

Scholand turned in a time of 17:08.97 to dominate the 1650-yard freestyle by nearly 26 and a half seconds for Simmons. First year Eva Piernas (Hopkinton, N.H.) clocked in at 18:50.73 to finish 16th, while senior Haley McCurdy (Framingham, Mass.) placed 20th at 19:30.57.

Simmons placed 11th in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 8:03.31 to shave more than 16 seconds off the quartet's entry time. Scholand led off the race for the Sharks, followed by Piernas, junior Olivia Walz (Natick, Mass.) and anchored by sophomore Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass.). Simmons also placed 16th in the event with a grouping that included sophomore Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.), senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.), first year Meg Driscoll (Haverhill, Mass.) and junior Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.), who combined on a time of 8:14.88.

Junior Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) led the Sharks on the diving board, placing 13th on the one-meter board with a score of 169.50, while senior Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) tallied 155.15 points to finish 15th. 

Simmons returns to the pool tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. for the Day Two Preliminaries of the Invitational.