Strong performances from underclassmen continued to help propel the Amherst women’s swim and dive team to victory over NESCAC rival Middlebury this weekend. This win marks the purple and white’s third straight dual-meet triumph.

Ingrid Shu ’20, Geralyn Lam ’18, Stephanie Moriarty ’18 and Zoe Pappas ’19 comprised the 200-yard medley relay team that captured the first victory of the meet with a fast time of 1:49.44.

Bridgette Kwong ’19 had an impressive showing, swimming her way to three individual victories. Kwong was the first to touch the wall in the 100-yard (1:00.18) and 200-yard backstroke (2:13.10).

Moriarty, finished closely behind Kwong in both of these events, securing second place for the purple and white and further racking up the team’s impressive point total.

Additionally, Kwong earned her third first- place finish of the day in the 200-yard IM (2:13.10).
Shu and first-year Natalie Rumpelt and both improved on their already impressive start to the season by collecting two individual victories each. Meanwhile, Rumpelt swam to first place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle with times of 1:56.51 and 5:16.18, respectively.

Shu led her field in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.54) and 100-yard freestyle (54.16). Heather Grotzinger ’20 also gathered an individual win for her team in the 1000-yard freestyle, finishing with a mark of 10:57.39. Lam also added two personal victories in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.34) and 100-yard butterfly (58.17).

Jackie Palermo ’19 collected one more individual win for the purple and white in 1-meter diving.
The Amherst women’s impressive individual efforts were key to the purple and white finishing with a score of 179.5 to the Panther’s 118.5 points.

“Middlebury has one of the best pools in the NESCAC, so this meet was a great opportunity for us to put down some fast times before the end of the semester,” Moriarty said. “Coming out of the meet with a win was great, especially with our lasting rivalry with Midd, but the meet really gave us all a better sense of what we need to focus on over the next few months to be the best we can be for NESCACs.”

The team will now enjoy a brief hiatus through the end of December before action begins again for the purple and white at home in Pratt Pool on Dec. 31 at noon when they will face Union College.