SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College swimming & diving team posted six victories on the afternoon as they split in tri-meet action against Wheaton College and Clark University. MHC fell to Wheaton by a narrow 121-110 margin, but defeated the Cougars, 167-67. The Wheaton women also defeated Clark by a 169-65 margin. The homestanding Lyons were led by three wins from sophomore Cathleen Pruden.
In men's action, Wheaton cruised to a 172-59 victory over Clark, as first years Frederick Garneau (Glastonbury, Conn.) and Ross Johnston (Bar Harbor, Maine) each recorded three event wins.
Pruden (Raleigh, N.C.) power MHC to its first victory of the afternoon, winning the 1000-freestyle in a time of 10:41.73. Junior Rachel Boynton (Northampton, Mass.) also had an outstanding showing in the event, placing third with a mark of 11:37.39.
Junior Maya Lazarovich (South Burlington, Vt.) claimed victory in the 200-freestyle with a time of 2:02.42 and was quickly followed by sophomore Erica Carvell (Aurora, Ill.), who was third in a time of 2:05.51.
In the 200-individual medley, Pruden proved dominant once again as she cruised to first-place with a time of 2:12.62, a mark that was nearly 11 seconds faster than second-place Helen Grant (2:23.43) from Wheaton.
Sophomore Bethany Aban (Poulsbo, Wash.) won the 100-butterfly in a time of 1:00.15, while Pruden went on to capture her final win of the day in the 500-free. She touched the wall with a time of 5:12.98 with Boynton finishing third in a time of 5:39.87.
Rounding out Mount Holyoke's efforts was Lazarovich, who won a nail-bitter in the 100-breaststroke. She touched the wall at the 1:11.67 mark, just beating Wheaton's Courtney Leach (Gilford, N.H.), who was second with a time of 1:12.01.
Garneau paced the Wheaton's men's effort as he won the 1000-freestyle (10:07.73), the 100-backstroke (55.96) and the 100-breast (1:04.97). Johnston won the 100-free (48.92), the 500-free (4:59.97) and also helped the 200-freestyle relay team to victory in a time of 1:30.23.
In the diving events, Clark's Leah Guliast (San Rafael, Calif.) swept victory on both boards. She won the 1-meter with a score of 171.15 points and captured the 3-meter with a mark of 174.50 points.
On the men's side, Wheaton's Ricky Davies (Wayland, Mass.) won off the 1-meter board with a score of 201.40 points, while teammate Ben Oliveri (Glastonbury, Conn.) earned the win on the 3-meter with a score of 203.40.
Mount Holyoke returns to action tomorrow when it travels to Simmons for a 12pm meet. Both Wheaton squads are in action on Saturday, hosting Trinity at 11:30am. Clark's men and women will be off until next weekend, when they compete in the Worcester City Championships.
