CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Feb. 15, 2013) – Day one of competition at the 2013 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) swimming & diving championships is in the books and through the first nine events, Mount Holyoke is tied for fifth. The Lyons had a strong opening effort at this year's meet as three school records fell, all championed by first year Cathleen Pruden.

MHC kicked off the meet with a pair of records in the preliminary trials as the Lyons foursome of first year Bethany Aban, junior Lauren Williams, Pruden and senior Lindsey Kanno eclipsed the school record in the 200-freestyle relay with a mark of 1:40.68 (previous – 1:40.71). The group then bettered their time and finished fifth overall in the event finals with a new mark of 1:39.73.

Pruden then shaved off time from her own school record in the prelims of the 500-free, posting a time of 5:09.70 (previous – 5:09.80) to advance to the event finals. In the evening session, she continued to impress, shaving off another 3.58 from her time as she placed second overall with a new mark of 5:06.22.

Sophomore Maya Lazarovich swam to 11th overall in the 200-individual medley with a mark of 2:14.00, while Aban was close behind in 13th in the event with a time of 2:15.36.

The pair then combined with Williams and Pruden in the 400-medley relay as the Lyons foursome once again took down another school record, recording a time of 4:04.06 to finish sixth overall in the event. That mark practically shattered the old record set in 2010 of 4:07.12.

Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday with the day two preliminaries set to get underway at 10am. Event finals will begin at 6pm. The meet runs through Sunday.