SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College swimming and diving team ended the first day of the five-team Sisters Invitational within shouting distance of first-place Wellesley on Saturday at the MHC Natatorium.
With one swimming session and 1-meter diving remaining for Sunday's portion of the meet, Wellesley leads the team scoring with 859 points, followed by Mount Holyoke (796.5), Smith College (384.5), Simmons University (340) and Western New England University (218).
"The team really rose to the occasion and put up a number of lifetime and season bests," said head coach Dave Allen. "The coaches are so proud of how everyone performed today and we are excited to see how they swim and dive tomorrow."
Junior diver Maddy Sewell (Scottsdale, Ariz.) again played a starring role for the Lyons, winning the 3-meter diving competition with a career-high 469.65 points, topping runner-up Katherine Welsh of Smith by 33.05 points.
The Lyons started off the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, just 0.44 seconds behind Wellesley (1:43.80). First-year Ruth Bailey (Edison, N.J.) led off for the Lyons, followed by first-year Carolina Loayza (Fort Myers, Fla.), junior Adji Diouf (Arlington, Va.), and sophomore Megan Schneider (Newton, Mass.). The Lyons' depth provided for a fourth-place finish from the B relay team of first-year Sophie Allen (Lopez Island, Wash.), senior Erin Schrama (Providence, R.I.), sophomore Emily Tarinelli (Groton, Conn.), and senior Lauren Leese (Round Rock, Texas).
Other top-five individual and top-two relay finishes for Mount Holyoke included:
- Loayza won the 50-yard butterfly in 27.79 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.26) and placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (26.24).
- Junior Evelyn Bushway (Schenectady, N.Y.) placed second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:34.63) and fourth in the 400 individual medley (4:59.27).
- Junior Seran Goudsouzian (Hellertown, Pa.) placed third in the 50-yard butterfly (29.33) and fifth in the 100 butterfly (1:05.36).
- Diouf took third place in the 50-yard backstroke (29.86).
- Bailey finished third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:08.34).
- Sophomore Hannah Heierhoff (Wiesbaden, Germany) took third place in the 100-yard butterfly (1:04.97).
- Senior captain Anais Magner (Whakatane, New Zealand) placed fourth in the 50-yard backstroke (30.00) and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.61).
- Schneider took fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle (26.37).
- Placing second in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:56.34 were Magner, Schneider, Loayza and Bailey.
The Sisters Invitational resumes Sunday morning, with 3-meter diving beginning at 11am and the third and final swimming session beginning at 12pm.
