Over the past month, the Amherst women’s swim and dive team competed in three meets. The eighth ranked women won two of the three meets, beating both Union and Connecticut College, falling only to archrival Williams.

Amherst opened interterm competition with a dual home meet against Union. In the 162-72 victory, first-year Natalie Rumpelt and sophomore Jackie Palermo led the team with two individual victories. Rumpelt swam to first place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (24.52) and the 100-yard freestyle (52.99). Palermo helped secure Amherst’s win with first-place performances in the one-meter and three-meter diving events. Rumpelt, along with Katie Smith ’19, Destin Groff ’17 and Zoe Pappas ’19, also broke an 11-year old Pratt Pool record in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The purple and white then traveled to Williamstown, Massachusetts to take on perennial swimming powerhouse Williams. Despite the 208.5-89.5 loss, the Amherst women did notch one victory in the 400-yard freestyle medley. Dorit Song ’19, Ingrid Shu ’20, Geralyn Lam ’18 and Rumpelt placed first with a time of 3:32.49. Individually, Rumpelt and Lam both put forth impressive efforts in the loss. Lam placed third in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly with respective times of 57.77 and 2:08.71. Rumpelt also earned points with two second place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle (53.47) and 200-yard freestyle (1:53.74).

Lastly, this past weekend, the Amherst women hosted NESCAC rival Conn. College. The purple and white defeated the 14th-ranked Camels 163-125. Rumpelt continued to perform impressively, collecting two individual victories in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle with times of 52.51 and 1:53.17 respectively. Rumpelt was also part of the record-breaking team 200-yard freestyle relay team along with Stephanie Moriarty ’18, Pappas and Shu. The relay team broke the Pratt Pool record by more than two seconds, with a time of 1:36.62. Once again, Palermo earned first place finishes in the one-meter and three-meter diving events. Sophomore Bridgitte Kwong also claimed two individual victories in the 200-yard backstroke (2:05.36) and the 200-yard IM (2:09.75). In addition to her record-breaking performance on the 200-yard freestyle relay, Shu tacked on first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (24.15) and second-place finish in 200-yard breaststroke (2:23.62).

The purple and white return to action and look to continue their momentum on Saturday, Jan. 28 when they will take on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.