Looking to improve upon their 15th overall finish at NCAA Championships last season, the Amherst women’s swimming and diving team started off its season on the right foot with consecutive victories over NESCAC foes Colby and Wesleyan.
Ranked 12th in the nation, the Mammoths faced off against Colby on the Mules’ home turf on Saturday, Nov. 18 and took control of the meet right off the bat. In the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, Amherst swept the top three spots with the team of Stephanie Moriarty ’18, Nina Fitzgerald ’21, Geralyn Lam ’18 and Natalie Rumpelt ’20 taking first overall.
The 1000-yard freestyle had the same result, with the Mammoths’ only three swimmers in the race taking all the available points. Julia Ruggiero ’21 started off her collegiate career in style by finishing first with a time of 10:50.32. Following Ruggiero were Marie Maxwell ’18 at 11:17.65 and Jayne Vogelzang ’19at 11:23.51.
With only five swimmers in the 200yard freestyle, Amherst made sure to keep the foot on the gas by claiming the top four times. Rumpelt won the event with a time 1:56.70, just barely holding off Livia Domenig ’19 who finished in 1:57.98. Juniors Sarah Wishloff and Hope Kim rounded out the top-four with times of 2:06.56 and 2:07.07, respectively.
The Mammoths went on to take first in almost every event, with notable performances by Sarah McDonald ’20 in the 100-yard freestyle, Lindsey Ruderman ’21 in the one-meter diving event and Bridgitte Kwong ’19 in the 200-yard backstroke, all of whom helped Amherst to secure the 157-108 win.
Just two days later, the Mammoths traveled to Middletown, Connecticut where they posted another dominant win over Little Three rival Wesleyan. The team of Moriarty, Fitzgerald, Lam and Rumpelt posted its second straight first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with an impressive time of 1:48.69.
Some of the Mammoths best events against the Cardinals included the 50-yard breaststroke, where Katie Smith ’19 claimed first place by finishing at 30.84, followed by Fitzgerald at 31.05 and Ingrid Shu ’20 at 31.66. In the three-meter diving, Nina Kiley ’21 took the top spot by scoring 200.92 points, with Jasmine Horan ’19 placing right behind her boasting a score of 180.90. The top three spots in the 500-yard freestyle were occupied by Mammoths as well, with Ruggiero winning the event in a time of 5:14.38, holding off Domening at 5:15.30 and Maxwell at 5:25.26. The overwhelming successes in almost every event led to a 170-115 victory for Amherst.
The Mammoths will look to build on their early-season momentum when they host their NESCAC heavyweight Middlebury this Saturday, Dec. 2 at 1 p.m.
