WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's swimming & diving team erased a 20-point deficit and completed a comeback victory with a win in the final relay to take a 152-141 victory over host Division II Bentley University this evening at the Dana Center Pool in Waltham, Mass.

The Lyons improve to 1-0 on the season, while marking the first collegiate victory for first-year Head Coach Adriana Owen, while the Falcons fall to 0-1 in the season opener for both schools.

Wheaton junior Talia Dalton (Andover, Minn.) and senior Reese Hartmann (Grand Rapids, Mich.) each posted a pair of first place finishes and Dalton also added a fourth-place effort to give her a team-high 20 points.

The Lyons registered nine first place finishes for the meet with the biggest coming in the final event of the evening.

Wheaton trailed 139-137 heading into the 200-yard freestyle relay, before it came through with the win and a second-place finish in the event to secure the dual meet victory. Senior Katie Walz (Bellevue, Wash.), junior Garin Stone (Barrington, R.I.), senior Alexa DiCenso (Methuen, Mass.) and Hartmann combined for a time of 1:40.55 to win the race by more than five seconds.

Bentley took its largest lead of the meet following first, third and fourth-place showings in the 100-yard freestyle to give the home team a 94-74 lead. Senior Jordan Nuzback (Fairview, Pa.) won the race for the Falcons with a mark of 54.85 to contribute to a meet-high 22 points. 

The Lyons began to chip away at the margin with 1-2 finishes in both the 200-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle. Hartmann touched first in the 200-back with a time of 2:11.69, while Dalton captured the 500-free with a mark of 5:28.49 to pull Wheaton within 116-109. 

The Lyons reclaimed an earlier lead after taking first, third and fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly, led by a winning time of 1:00.50 from DiCenso, to give Wheaton a 123-121 advantage. Senior diver Morgen Coughlin-Doyle (Topsham, Maine) added to the Lyons' lead with a personal-best score of 281.70 to place first on the three-meter board and also fall less than eight points short of the school standard. 

Wheaton's 132-125 lead lasted for just one event as Bentley jumped back on top following the 200-yard individual medley. The Falcons took the top two spots, including the second first-place effort turned in by Nuzback with a clip of 2:12.37 to give Bentley a 139-137 lead heading into the final relay.

Dalton placed first in the meet's first individual event of the night with a time of 11:10.65 in the 1000-yard freestyle for the Lyons, while Hartmann's mark of 1:00.32 topped the field in the 100-yard backstroke. 

Wheaton boasted four other competitors with 13 points apiece, fueled by a first and second-place finish each. Coughlin-Doyle finished second on the one-meter board with a tally of 241.3 points, while DiCenso placed second in the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 2:20.31. Stone out-touched the field in the 200-yard freestyle by just 3.5 tenths of a second with a time of 1:59.89 and added a runner-up performance in the 200-yard backstroke (2:13.18), while Walz swam to victory in the 50-yard freestyle (24.56) and placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 55.03.

Sophomore Skyla Lang (Roseville, Calif.) matched Nuzback with 22 points for the Falcons after wins in the 100 (1:09.74) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.34). Nuzback and Lang joined junior Caroline Ubert (Columbus, Ohio) and sophomore Isabella Montanari (Interlaken, N.J.) opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay on a time of 1:51.78. Senior diver Hilla Almog (Wayland, Mass.) finished first on the one-meter board with a score of 279.29 and Ubert touched first in the 200-yard butterfly behind a clip of 2:17.29 for Bentley.

The Lyons return to the pool on Friday, October 25 when they open the home slate at Balfour Natatorium against Wellesley College at 6:00 p.m., while the Falcons head to Babson Park, Mass. to compete against Babson College on October 26.