It was an outstanding weekend for the Amherst women’s swimming and diving team, as the team’s trip to Samuelson-Muir Pool at Williams ended in a second-place showing at the NESCAC Championships. In a grueling weekend of competition, the Mammoths scored the second most points on all three days en route to a final tally of 1615 points, behind only Williams’ 1971 and nearly 600 points clear of third-place finisher Conn. College.
Amherst started off strong on the first day of competition, with five top-three finishes. In the first event of the day, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Geralyn Lam ’18, Ingrid Shu ’20, Natalie Rumpelt ’20 and Stephanie Moriarty ’18 notched a second-place result thanks to a time of 1:34.28. The second event of the day brought more success for Amherst, as Katie Smith ’19 used her time of 29.52 to claim third place in the 50-yard breaststroke, while fellow Mammoth Nina Fitzgerald ’21 took sixth with a time of 30.00.
The 50-yard butterfly led to two top-five finishes as Shu and Lam finished fourth and fifth, respectively. In the 200-yard individual medley, Bridgitte Kwong ’19 took fourth place with a time of 2:05.87, and Heather Grotzinger ’20 ended up in eighth with a time of 2:08.86.
The day ended on a high note as Lindsay Ruderman ’21 scored the Mammoths’ first win of the tournament with a score of 483.25 in the one-meter diving event, and teammate Jackie Palermo ’19 took second with a tally of 446.10.
Day two brought with it more success for the Mammoths, as they had swimmers in all eight of the event finals. Jayne Vogelzang ’19 impressed with a fifth-place showing in the 1,000-yard freestyle, a long and arduous event, finishing in 10:30.43. Julia Ruggiero ’21 wasn’t too far behind, finishing in seventh place with a time of 10:34.71. Kwong used her all-around expertise to take second place in the 400-yard individual medley, and Rumpelt continued her strong weekend showing with a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle.
Other performances of note included those of Livia Domenig ’19, who took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle, and Fitzgerald, Smith and Shu, who finished third through fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Once again, Amherst ended the day on a high, registering a second-place finish from Kwong, Sarah McDonald ’20, Domenig and Rumpelt in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
The Mammoths cemented their second-place finish with an excellent performance on the third and final day of the meet. Amherst came out of the gates flying with a one-two finish in the 200-yard backstroke by Moriarty and Kwong, with only .02 seconds separating the Mammoths.
Meanwhile, a time of 52.03 in the 100-yard freestyle helped propel Rumpelt to a third place finish.
Fitzgerald matched Rumpelt by claiming third in the 200-yard breaststroke, and Ruderman took home her second NESCAC title by winning the three-meter diving event with a score of 489.55.
For the Mammoths, the championship meet concluded with a second-place finish by Rumpelt, Domenig, Lam and Moriarty in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
This meet marked the end of conference competition for Amherst, but the team will travel to Maine next week to compete at the February Invitational, before concluding the season in March at the NCAA DIII Championships.