Over Thanksgiving break, the Amherst women’s swimming and diving team got off to a great start to the season, defeating both Colby and Wesleyan to begin its campaign 2-0. Against Colby on Saturday Nov. 21, Amherst finished the meet with a final score of 149-108.

The purple and white outright won 12 events, including both individual and relay events. Amherst started off the meet in strong form, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:50.58. Swimming in this event were Emily Hyde ’16, Destin Groff ’17, Sarah Conklin ’16 and Stephanie Moriarty ’18.

In addition to swimming in the 200-yard medley relay, Moriarty and Hyde each won two individual events. Moriarty finished in first place in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke, with times of 1:00.4 and 2:12.38, respectively.

Hyde won both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, with times of 1:07.25 and 2:24.02, respectively.

In her first meet of her collegiate career, Katie Smith ’19 won both the 50-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard freestyle. She finished with times of 25.27 and 55.21, respectively.

Jacqueline Palermo ’19, Geralyn Lam ’18 and Livia Domenig ’19 each also won individual events at the meet. Palermo was victorious in the 1-meter diving event, with a score of 191.65. Domenig won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:58.83, while Lam tallied a win in the 220-yard butterfly, finishing in 2:10.49.

Rounding out the victors for the purple and white was captain Charlotte Chudy ’16, who won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:53.52.

On Monday, Nov. 23 the purple and white traveled to Middletown, Connecticut to faceoff against Wesleyan. Amherst won 11 events en route to a 163-118 victory in the second meet of the season.

The purple and white impressively claimed the top-three spots in five events: the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke.

Moriarty continued the impressive start to her season by finishing in first in both the 50-yard and 100-yard backstroke events. Her times were 27.43 and 58.75, respectively. She also played a part in Amherst’s winning squad in the 200-yard medley event, along with Hyde, Conklin and Smith.

Bridgitte Kwong ’18 had an impressive start to her collegiate career, finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.67 and earning first in the 400-yard IM event with a time of 4:36.67. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Hyde finished first, with a time of 1:06.03, right in front of senior Hannah Hummel and Smith, who finished with times of 1:08.86 and 1:09.47, respectively.

In the 50-yard breaststroke, Hyde recorded another victory with a time of 30.42, while Smith finished in second with a time of 31.31

Amherst also claimed the top-three places in the 200-yard freestyle, with Domenig leading the way by finishing in 1:55.95.
Chudy and Marie Maxwell ’18 were right behind her with times of 1:59.52 and 2:01.75, respectively.

The purple and white claimed first and second place in the 100-yard butterfly event, with Conklin and first-year Sarah Wishloff finishing with times of 57.91 and 1:01.18, respectively.

Zoe Pappas ’19 began her collegiate career with victories in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. She finished the 50-yard race in 35.13 and the 100-yard event in 54.06.

With such a strong start to the season, Amherst looks to be a contender this season in the NESCAC and beyond.