SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Nov. 9, 2012) - In a battle that came down to the final relay, the Assumption women's swimming & diving team came out the victor, posting a 146-138 win over Mount Holyoke College on Friday evening. With the victory, the Greyhounds improve to 2-0 in dual meet action on the season, while the Lyons, who saw two school records fall, plus an NCAA B Cut, move to 1-1 overall.
The homestanding Lyons came out firing, posting victories in three of the first five events of the meet. The 200-medley relay team of junior Lauren Williams (Kingston, Jamaica/Baylor School (Tenn.), sophomore Maya Lazarovich (South Burlington, Vt./South Burlington) and first years Bethany Aban (Polusbo, Wash./North Kitsap) and Maggie Webb (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos) got things going with a down-to-the-wire victory with a time of 1:54.66.
First year Cathleen Pruden (Raleigh, N.C./Ravencroft School) continued her winning ways, crusing to victory in the 1000-freestyle with a time of 11:04.07. Assumption picked up a pair of wins, but Lazarovich helped MHC to its third win of the night in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:10.54.
Webb, Williams and senior Nora Cunningham (Bronx, N.Y./Stuyvesant) then went 1-2-3 in the 50-freestyle to give the Lyons a strong gain in points. Webb had a winning time of 25.53, while Williams and Cunningham went 25.97 and 26.12, respectively.
Following the 1-meter diving event, Webb picked up her third victory of the night, capturing the 100-freestyle with a time of 55.87. Lazarovich also came up with her third win of the evening, taking first in the 200-breast with a mark of 2:30.74.
The Lyons continued to pile on the wins after that as Pruden won the 500-freestyle in a school record time of 5:11.91. That mark eclipsed the previous record of 5:15.18 set by Katie Herrold '00 in 1997.
After a win by Aban with a time of 1:01.19 in the 100-butterfly, Pruden claimed her third individual win of the night and second school record of the evening with a win in the 400-individual medley. Her time of 4:35.56 shattered the previous record of 4:52.16, which was set by Heather Superson '06 in 2003.
First year diver Catrina Bellucci-DiLizia (Springfield, Mass./Home Schooled) posted a score of 158.40 points to win the 3-meter event, which set up the close battle at the finish.
The MHC 200-freestyle relay team was out-touched at the wall by a fraction of a second as the foursome of Cunningham, sophomore Rachel Boynton (Northampton, Mass./Northampton), senior Lindsey Kanno (Cranston, R.I./Cranston East) and Pruden were second with a time of 1:43.23.
Mount Holyoke returns to the pool on November 16 in a 6:30pm meet at Trinity. Assumption travels to LeMoyne on Sunday to compete against the host Dolphins and Pace University, beginning at 12pm.
Front photo by Amie Canfield. Inside photo courtesy of Doug Keller.
