CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Action at the 2018 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships got underway on Thursday evening with the 800-freestyle relay. Mount Holyoke College saw an outstanding effort from its foursome in the event.

Touching the wall with a time of 8:13.54, the Lyons recorded seventh overall in the championship final. Comprising that team were first years Naomi Brown (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington HS South) and Ashton Bliss (Honolulu, Hawaii/Hawaii Technology Academy), senior captain Claire Beckett (Haslett, Mich./Haslett) and junior Bri Groves (Reston, Va./South Lakes).

The Lyons B relay also finished well, earning 17th overall with a time of 8:38.28. The team featured first years Riley Hicks (Bow, N.H./Bow) and Courtney Dunham (Pawling, N.Y./Canterbury School), along with sophomore Natalie Burkett (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) and senior Amy Lim (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell).

Capturing the victory was the A relay for the Coast Guard Academy, which posted a solid NCAA B qualifying and invited time of 7:34.47. Overall through the first event, the host Engineers of MIT lead with 64 points with both of its relay teams finishing with solid points.

Action continues at this year's championships on Friday morning as the field takes to the pool at 10am for preliminaries. The finals of the swimming events will begin at 6pm with the women's diving kicking off tomorrow as well. The competition runs through Sunday.

Photo of the Lyons seventh-place relay team courtesy of MIT Athletic Communications.