KINGSTON, R.I. -- Sophomore Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) won both of her individual events to lead the Simmons University women's swimming & diving team on day two of the finals at the 2020 New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship at the Tootell Aquatic Center on the campus of host University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.
The Sharks are currently in second place with 472 points, trailing first place Roger Williams University's total of 589. Keene State College owns the third spot with 376 points.
Singleton added victories in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley during this evening's final to her combined effort win in the 800-yard freestyle relay from the the previous night. Singleton won the 100-fly by almost half a second with a time of 58.86 and touched the wall first with a comfortable three-plus second margin on a time of 2:11.38. Senior Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) joined her in the winner's circle with a dominant victory in the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 4:59.30 to win by more than 21 seconds and eclipse the NCAA "B" cut qualifying time. Senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) nearly joined her teammates with a gold medallion, but settled for silver in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing just five one-hundreths of a second behind Roger Williams sophomore Ellie Field with a time of 24.36.
Scholand led off the 400-yard medley relay with the backstroke for Simmons, before first year Katelyn Quinlan (Haverhill, Mass.) swam the breaststroke leg, ahead of Singleton's butterfly and List's freestyle anchor to combine on a time of 4:02.78 to place second.
Junior Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) and sophomore Savana Silva (Groveland, Mass.) helped Singleton make the 100-yard butterfly a big-scoring event for the Sharks. Leedham clocked in at 1:01.68 to place fourth, while Silva's time of 1:02.83 was good for sixth.
Simmons was fortunate of have multiple scorers in five events during the night. First year Eva Piernas (Hopkinton, N.H.) recorded a fifth-place showing in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:29.69, while senior Haley McCurdy (Framingham, Mass.) logged a time of 5:39.26 to finish 15th and ahead of first year teammate Sophie Stevenson's (Orefield, Pa.) 16th-place effort of 5:52.80. McCurdy showed her versatility and resilience by swimming just two events later, placing 15th in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 34.12. Junior Annie Lam (Natick, Mass.) was the Sharks' second-leading scorer of the night, winning the consolation final of the 200-yard IM to finish ninth overall with a time of 2:20.62. She previously finished 11th in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 33.42 as part of a 36-point night. Quinlan also scored in the consolation final of the 50-breaststroke with a mark of 33.56 to place 13th.
Sophomore Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass.) gave Simmons another finals scorer in the 50-yard freestyle, placing eighth with a time of 25.33. A pair of first years scored in their first career individual events at NEISDA with Lauren Kenney (West Springfield, Mass.) turning in a 13th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley on a mark of 2:26.40, while Emma Yanovitch (Natick, Mass.) touched the wall at 2:28.59 to finish 15th.
The Sharks return to the water tomorrow morning for Day Three's preliminaries at 10:00 a.m.