After Saturday’s win over MIT (198-117) and Sunday’s defeat of Springfield College (202-95), the women’s swimming and diving team boasts a record of 7-1. They fell short against Williams with a score of 114-180 on Jan. 9, but after a 10-day training trip to Puerto Rico, the women bounced back with a 152.5-131.5 victory against Connecticut College.
The MIT meet was uniquely split into two sessions: the first began at 11 a.m. and the second commenced at 5 p.m. Leading the women’s team in both sessions, sophomore Geralyn Lam garnered wins in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:06.84, the 100-yard butterfly in 57.66 and the 200-yard IM, finishing in 2:08.72. “MIT is a very good team and we knew we had a chance to win the meet if we collectively stepped up, so I just did my best to contribute to the overall score of the meet,” Lam said.
Also very successful were first-year Livia Domenig and senior Emily Hyde. Domenig earned two wins, dominating the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.16 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:07.07. Likewise, Hyde swept the breaststroke competition with wins in both the 100-yard race in 1:04.88 and the 200-yard race in 2:18.79. First-years Zoe Pappas and Bridgette Kwong were also able to claim wins in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.85 and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:04.38, respectively.
The women’s relay teams also dominated in the pool. In the first session, sophomore Stephanie Moriarty, senior Sarah Conklin, Domenig and Hyde took the 400-yard medley relay title with a mark of 3:53.43. Later, during the second session, Pappas joined Moriarty, Conklin and Hyde to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:47.47. “We lost to MIT last year, so it was really cool to beat them,” Moriarty said.
On the diving side, first-years Jackie Palermo and Jasmine Horan valiantly challenged their competition. In the 1-meter event, Palermo took first with a score of 241.86 and Horan earned fifth place with 167.70 points. In the 3-meter competition, Palermo garnered 229.27 points for a third-place finish, while Horan racked up 165.98 points for sixth.
The next day, against Springfield, the women were equally as successful. Seniors Charlotte Chudy, Conklin and Hyde enjoyed several first-place finishes. Chudy won the lengthy 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:03.48 and Hyde dominated the 200-yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:19.82. Conklin won two races with winning times of 2:08.69 in the 200-yard butterfly and 57.75 in the 100-yard butterfly. Palermo and Horan again held their own on the diving board. Palermo took first place in the 1-meter event with a score of 256.05 and second in the 3-meter event, finishing with 222.10, while Horan earned fifth in the 1-meter with a score of 162.30 and fourth in the 3-meter event with 184.05 as her final score.
Lam shined once again, scoring two second-place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke with times of 1:01.00 and 2:11.57, respectively.
In recognition of her excellent performance against MIT and Springfield, Lam was named the NESCAC performer of the week for the first time in her collegiate career.
The women are on an upward swing coming off of three consecutive victories and they look forward to using this momentum as they prepare for NESCAC events.
