BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's swimming & diving team defeated host Bridgewater State University, 170-115, this afternoon at the Dr. Mary Jo Moriarty Swimming Pool in Bridgewater, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Bears fall to 1-2.
Wheaton won 11 of 16 events and every swimming event it didn't swim exhibition in. The Lyons finished one-two in 10 events, including three events where they swept the top three spots.
Junior Alexa DiCenso (Methuen, Mass.), sophomore Tali Dalton (Andover, Minn.) and Vivian Van Holland (Excelsior, Minn.) each won a pair of events on the day to lead Wheaton. DiCenso won both breaststroke events with a time of 1:10.96 in the 100-yard race and a mark of 2:36.35 in the 200. Dalton showed her versatility both in length and stroke, winning the first individual event of the day with a mark of 11:11.31 to claim the 1000-yard freestyle and then touched the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:18.14. Van Holland placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:05.14, before winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:31.45.
The Lyons received winning individual efforts from four other swimmers as well. Junior Reese Hartmann (Grand Rapids, Mich.) captured the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.28, while classmate Katie Walz (Bellevue, Wash.) defeated the field in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.04. Sophomore Garin Stone (Barrington, R.I.) took 26.05 to win the 50-yard freestyle and senior Amelia Butler (New York, N.Y.) out-touched her competitors in the 100-yard freestyle after a time of 54.86.
Wheaton opened the meet with a win in the 400-yard medley relay behind Hartmann in the lead backstroke, DiCenso in the breaststroke, Walz in the butterfly and Butler in the freestyle anchor to combine for a winning time of 4:07.22
Junior diver Morgen Coughlin-Doyle (Topsham, Maine) placed second on the one-meter board for the Lyons, finishing just 15 one-hundreths of a point out of first with a score of 259.50. Senior Bella Barrett (Wakefield, Mass.) placed fourth with a score of 163.25 points.
Sophomore Cailey Simard (Haverhill, Mass.) swept the diving events to lead the way for Bridgewater State. Simard posted a score of 259.65 points on the one-meter board and a season-best 278.20 points on the three-meter.
The BSU relay squad featuring senior Jenna Maxim (Lakeville, Mass.) and juniors Brynn Murray (Chelmsford, Mass.), Jenna Fiebiger (Johannesburg, South Africa) and Brianna Matte (Cumberland, R.I.) placed second in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:48.65. Maxim also won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.81, while senior Lily Watson (Waterford, Conn.) swam an exhibition time in the race of 1:00.39. Matte placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a mark of 2:32.75 and first year Kaleigh Morton (Milford, Conn.) swam the best exhibition time for the visitors at 2:17.77.
Wheaton returns to action on Friday, November 10 when it travels to New London, Conn. to take on United States Coast Guard Academy at 4:00 p.m., while the Bears host Roger Williams University on the same day at 5:00 p.m.
