WORCESTER, Mass. - The first full day of action at the 2017 NEWMAC Championships has concluded and through 13 events, the Mount Holyoke College swimming & diving team is ninth overall.
The Lyons opened the evening in with a strong start as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of seniors Katie Tyler (Hadley, Mass./Hopkins Academy), Anne Kuenning (Bow, N.H./Bow), Emily Craig (Rochester, N.Y./Gates-Chili Senior), and junior Bri Groves (Reston, Va./South Lakes finished eighth overall in the championship final. The team posted a time of 1:40.68, which was almost four seconds faster than its time in the preliminary round.
The relay team of first years Sarah Ratzlaff (Salt Lake City, Utah/Cottonwood), Jane Zhang (Fresh Meadows, N.Y./Townsend Harris), and sophomores Monika Sharma (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional), and Kate Flaherty (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough Regional was 17th with a time of 1:52.37 in the consolation final.
Mount Holyoke also had a solid performance in the 400-yard medley relay as one team competed in the championship and the other in the consolation race. The team comprised of Kuenning, Groves, Tyler, and Craig swam to a ninth place finish with a time of 4:06.41, while the team of Delany Berry (Collinsville, Conn./Canton), Claire Beckett (Haslett, Mich./Haslett), Natalie Burkett (Framingham, Mass./Framingham), and Ratzlaff finished 19th with a time of 4:28.39.
Rookie Samantha Nemivant (Scottsdale, Ariz.Notre Dame Prep) then competed in the 1-meter dive finals and finished ninth with a score of 408.25.
Kuenning and Craig were among five swimmers for the Lyons to compete in the 500-yard freestyle event. Both were the top finishers for MHC as Kuenning was 26th (5:25.19), while Craig was 29th (5:27.80).
In the 200-yard individual medley, Groves finished 39th in a time of 2:21.37, while Beckett was close behind in 41st (2:21.62).
Tyler also competed in the 50-yard freestyle and touched in a time of 25.60. Flaherty was 39th with a time of 27.00.
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