CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Senior Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) placed third in the 500-yard freestyle to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team on the final day of the MIT Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational at the Al '51 & Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool in Cambridge, Mass.
The Sharks scored 354 points to finish sixth in the three-day meet, while Tufts University tallied 1745 points to complete a wire-to-wire championship finish.
Scholand turned in a time of 5:03.84 to place third in the 500-yard freestyle and score 20 points for Simmons. She later finished 15th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.90. She was one of three top-20 finishers in the event for the Sharks as one of two events Simmons claimed three scorers in and four races the Sharks saw multiple swimmers score.
Senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) joined Scholand in the 100-yard freestyle as the team's top finisher with a 12th-place showing on a time of 54.69. Sophomore Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass.) also contributed to the scoring after posting a mark of 55.57 to place 19th. Simmons placed three among the top-20 in the 200-yard backstroke, led by sophomore Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.), who finished 13th following a time of 2:14.97. List wasn't far behind with a mark of 2:16.47 to finish 15th, while Howard took 20th place with a time of 2:20.04. Singleton also placed 12th in the 200-yard individual medley to close out the individual events with a time of 2:14.81.
First year Meg Driscoll (Haverhill, Mass.) picked up six points for the Sharks in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:32.01, while junior Olivia Walz (Natick, Mass.) placed 20th at 2:36.92. First year Eva Piernas (Hopkinton, N.H.) placed 17th in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking in at 5:23.15.
Simmons scored points in both relays as well, closing out the night with its highest relay finish of the meet. The Sharks placed 10th in the 400-yard freestyle with a time of 3:40.52. Walz swam the opening 100 yards, followed by Howard, Scholand and anchored by List. Simmons opened the night by placing 17th in the 200-yard medley relay. List swam the opening backstroke, followed by first year Katelyn Quinlan's (Haverhill, Mass.) breaststroke. Singleton picked up the butterfly 50, before Howard closed out the race on the freestyle anchor to contribute to a combined time of 1:55.06.
The Sharks return to the pool in 2020 when they travel to New London, N.H. to take on host Colby-Sawyer College and Regis College (Mass.) in a double-dual meet on January 11 at 12:00 p.m.