WORCESTER, Mass. – Powered by several strong finishes, the Mount Holyoke College swimming & diving team posted a split in tri-meet action against Clark University and Wheaton College. The Lyons posted a 128-108 victory over the host Cougars, but fell to the Lyons of Wheaton by a 163-77 margin.
Mount Holyoke opened the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay as the foursome of senior captain Claire Beckett, junior Bri Groves, first year Naomi Brown and senior Amy Lim combined for a time of 4:25.41.
MHC saw rookie Ashton Bliss place third in the 1000-yard freestyle, touching the wall with a score of 12:02.39. Sophomore Sarah Ratzlaff was seventh with a time of 12:30.63, while junior captain Delany Berry was close behind in eighth with a time of 12:37.79.
The 200-yard free saw sophomore Natalie Burkett took eighth with a time of 2:13.95, while in the 50-yard free, rookies Tamara Mukulu and Caitlyn Richmond were fourth (26.22) and seventh (27.14), respectively.
Brown went on to place fifth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:27.16, while Groves was sixth overall with a time of 2:27.53. In the 200-yard butterfly, Brown also took sixth overall with a mark of 2:31.95.
The 100-yard free saw rookie Riley Hicks place fifth with a time of 1:00.47, while Lim was seventh with a mark of 1:02.01. In the 200-yard backstroke, Beckett was runner-up with a time of 2:21.27, followed by Berry who was fifth with a time of 2:35.80.
Third-place in the 500-yard free went to Burkett, who had a time of 5:55.24, followed by Bliss in fourth (5:59.68) and Ratzlaff in fifth (6:00.77). Groves was third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:40.77, while in the final event of the evening, the Lyons saw two teams finish strong.
Finishing second in the event was the foursome of Ratzlaff, Burkett, Hicks and Bliss, who combined for a time of 4:11.85. The Lyons other team finished third overall with a mark of 4:25.24. That group consisted of Topaz Mukulu, seniors Rachel Polfer and Cailin Van Nevel, along with Berry.
In the diving events, the Lyons shined as sophomore Samantha Nemivant placed first off the 1-meter with a mark of 248.60 points. Rookies Katie Kolozsvari and Elise Malvicini were third (185.15) and fifth (147.35), respectively.
Nemivant went on to place second in the 3-meter event with a score of 231.20 points, while Kolozsvari was third with a score of 181.95 points.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for a 1pm tri-meet against Vassar College and Trinity College.
