WATERVILLE, Maine — Junior Talia Dalton (Andover, Minn.) and senior Katie Walz (Bellevue, Wash.) led the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's swimming & diving team on the first night of the Maine Collegiate Invitational at host Colby College in Waterville, Maine at the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center's Aquatic Center.
The Lyons tallied 117 points after the first eight events to sit in fifth place. Host Colby College leads the pack with a score of 486 with Division I University of Maine Orono trailing as the runner-up with a tally of 341.5 points. Bowdoin College is in the third spot with 234.5 and Bates College is currently fourth with 158..
Walz turned in a season-best time of 24.12 to place second in the 50-yard freestyle for Wheaton, while junior Garin Stone (Barrington, R.I.) posted a personal-record mark of 24.62 in the race to finish eighth. Senior Reese Hartmann (Grand Rapids, Mich.) placed 15th with a time of 25.03.
Dalton shattered her personal-best time in the 500-yard freestyle by 3.61 seconds to clock in at 5:06.85 and finish third for the Lyons. She also scored with an 11th-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley with another personal-record clip of 2:13.05 to erase her previous top time by 2.28 seconds. Senior Alexa DiCenso (Methuen, Mass.) placed 16th in the event with a mark of 2:14.25.
Wheaton opened the night with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Stone led off before giving way to junior Emma Claire Lambert-Shemo (Cleveland, Ohio). Hartman and Walz swam the final two legs to give the quartet a season-best relay time of 1:38.11 for the Lyons.
Wheaton also competed in the 50-yard backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events. Senior Allie Taylor Raleigh, N.C.) led the Lyons in the backstroke event with a time of 30.20 to finish 22nd, while senior Anne Sweeney (Barrington, R.I.) recorded the team's top time of the night in the breaststroke race at 36.55 to finish 28th. Junior Laurel Mitchell (Rutland, Mass.) was Wheaton's best in the butterfly event with a mark of 29.96 to place 38th.
The Lyons closed the night with an assist from the men's team in the mixed 400-yard medley relay. Hartmann led off the first 100-yards in the backstroke, before junior Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.) swam the breaststroke leg. Stone swam the butterfly, before senior Anton Lopez (Oakland, Calif.) swam the final 100 yards with the freestyle anchor, touching the wall at 3:44.00 to place eighth in the race.
Wheaton returns to the pool tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at Colby.
