MIT Grabs Lead After Two Days at NEWMAC Swimming Championships
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – With a plethora of standout perfornamces, the MIT women's swimming and diving team grabbed first place at the NEWMAC swimming and diving championships heading into tomorrow's final day, overtaking 10-time reigning champion Springfield College at the top of the leader board. The Engineers prevailed in five events to increase their point total to 614.5. Springfield remains in striking distance with 577.5 points. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard Academy rounds out the top three with 309 points.
The MIT foursome of Christy Rogers, Calley Murphy, Anna Kokensparger and Elina Hu joined forces to win the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.91. Earlier in the day, they broke the NEWMAC Open and Championship records with their time of 1:45.36. Springfield's Kerry Lynch, Janella Cuyler, Kaitlin Reilly and Kellie Pennington completed the race in 1:46.69 to secure second place. Both squads provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
In addition to shattering the NEWMAC Open and Championship records with her time of 4:29.45 in the 400-yard individual medley, MIT's Katelyn Rossick also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event. She touched the wall more than eight second in front of teammate Alexandra Hall, who clocked a second place time of 4:37.89.
Anna Kokensparger took second place, behind Springfield's Pennington, in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 57.14, good enough for an NCAA 'B' cut. Morganne Klein provided MIT their third win of the night with a 100-yard breastroke victory in 1:05.31 and an NCAA B cut.
After breaking the NEWMAC Championship record with her time of 57.10 in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke, Rogers secured MIT's fourth win of the evening in the finals. She finished the race in 57.51. The rookie also met the NCAA "A" standard with her showing in the preliminaries. Teammate Kathryn Greskoff finished second with a time of 59.49.
MIT capped off its outstanding night with a bang, winning the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:35.86. Joanna Yeh, Sydney Giblin, Rossick and Kokensparger joined forces to crush the NEWMAC Open and Championship records while also provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Springfield (7:39.98) and the Coast Guard Academy (7:41.31) also met the NCAA "B" standard.
Tech also set school records with their performances in the 200 yard medley relay, 400 IM, 100 breast, 100 back, and 800 freestyle relay, which also earned an NCAA B Cut.
The Coast Guard Academy's Heidi Gayman took home top honors in the 200-yard freestyle with her time of 1:53.00. Rounding out the top three were fellow Bear Kimberly Shadwick (1:53.75) and Clark University's Gabriela Jijon-Nemalceff (1:54.19). The trio each reached achieved the NCAA "B" standard with their times.
The Championship will conclude with seven more events on Sunday. Preliminaries of the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 400-yard freestyle relay and 1650-yard freestyle will take place beginning at 11:00 a.m. The finals of the three-meter diving event will begin at 1:30 p.m., while finals for the remaining events will begin at 6:30 pm.
Throughout the weekend, fans will be able to follow the action at the Championship Website. Included on the site are the meet schedule, psyche sheet and spectator information. Live results will be provided in addition to daily recaps and statistics.
2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championship
Team Standings (Through Day 2)
1. MIT – 614.5
2. Springfield College – 577.5
3. Coast Guard Academy – 309
4. Wheaton College – 261.5
5. Wellesley College – 236
6. Clark University – 195.5
7. WPI – 141
8. Smith College – 121
9. Babson College – 95
10. Mount Holyoke College – 84
2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving All-Conference Teams
(Event Winners Earn First Team All-Conference)
|
Event |
First Team |
Second Team |
|
200-yard Freestyle Relay |
Kellie Pennington, Jaclyn Van Waalwijk, |
Christy Rogers, Katelyn Rossick, |
|
500-yard Freestyle |
Kimberly Shadwick (Coast Guard) – 5:00.71 & |
Keelin Nave (Wellesley) – 5:04.88 & |
|
200-yard Individual Medley |
Anna Kokensparger (MIT) – 2:04.99 & |
Katelyn Rossick (MIT) - 2:08.73 & |
|
50-yard Freestyle |
Kellie Pennington (Springfield) - 23.60 & |
Dania Piscetta (Wheaton) – 24.07 & |
|
400-yard Medley Relay |
Christy Rogers, Morganne Klein, |
Elle Van Cott, Nicole Zais, |
|
One-meter Diving |
Eileen Garcia (Clark) – 476.00 & |
Jennifer Thompson (Springfield) - 457.65 |
|
200-yard Medley Relay |
Christy Rogers, Calley Murphy, |
Kerry Lynch, Janella Cuyler, |
|
400-yard Individual Medley |
Katelyn Rossick (MIT) – 4:29.45 !^& |
Alexandra Hall (MIT) – 4:37.89 |
|
100-yard Butterfly |
Kellie Pennington (Springfield) – 56:54 & |
Anna Kokensparger (MIT) – 57.14 & |
|
200-yard Freestyle |
Heidi Gayman (Coast Guard) – 1:53.00 & |
Kimberly Shadwick (Coast Guard) – 1:53.75 |
|
100-yard Breaststroke |
Morganne Klein (MIT) – 1:05.31 & |
Nicole Zais (Wheaton) – 1:06.82 |
|
100-yard Backstroke |
Christy Rogers (MIT) – 57.51 & |
Kathryn Greskoff (MIT) – 59.49 |
|
800-yard Freestyle |
Joanna Yeh, Sydney Giblin, |
Kellie Pennington, Aimee Doe, |
! - NEWMAC Championship record
^ - NEWMAC Open record
@ - NCAA "A" standard
& - NCAA "B" standard