SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College swimming & diving team had an outstanding performance, besting the University of New England 142-118. With the win, the Lyons improve to 1-1, while the Nor'Easters drop to 1-2.
The meet opened up with a first place finish for the Lyons in the 200-yard Medley Relay with a time of 1:58.57. The A team of Julia Swinehart (Holyoke, Mass./Holyoke), Bri Groves (Reston, Va./South Lakes), Naomi Brown (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington HS South), and Amy Lim (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell) was followed by the B team who touched the wall in 2:03.72. In the 1000-yard freestyle, MHC also saw two top-three finishes as first year Ashton Bliss (Honolulu, Hawaii/Hawaii Technology Academy) finished in a time of 11:33.57, and sophomore Natalie Burkett (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) was third in 12:17.45.
Action moved to the 200-yard freestyle where first years Courtney Dunham (Pawling, N.Y./Canterbury School) and Riley Hicks (Bow, N.H./Bow) finished first and second with time of 2:10.27 and 2:10.61, respectively.
After a third place finish from Swinehart in the 100 yard backstroke (1:09.12), momentum continued into the 100-yard breaststroke where Groves and senior captain Claire Beckett (Haslett, Mich./Haslett) finished in the top two. Groves was first with a time of 1:11.49, while Beckett was close behind with a 1:15.38 mark.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Bliss and Brown finished with almost identical times as Bliss touched the was in 2:25.82, just .01 seconds before brown. The effort was good for second and third, respectively. In the 50-yard freestyle, first year Jacqueline Park (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge and Latin School) was first with a 27.12 mark.
Diving action kicked off on the 1-meter board where sophomore Samantha Nemivant (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep) was the top finisher with a score of 245.35. First years Katie Kolozsvari (Danville, Ind./Indiana Academy of Science, Math & Humanities) and Elise Malvicini (Kissimmee, Fla./International School Manilla) were second and third with marks of 159.75 and 123.05.
Park picked up where she left off earning a top-finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.14. Lim finished within a couple seconds with a 1:01.19 time, good for third. The Lyons continued its dominant performance as Becket finished first in the 200-yard backstroke with a 2:25.84 time, followed by another top finish from Groves in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:35.75. After Bliss finished on top in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:42.90 mark, action moved to the 100-yard butterfly where Brown finished second in a time of 1:02.46.
Nemivant had another strong performance on the 3-meter diving board with a first place score of 255.85, while Kolozsvari was second with a 163.45 score.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Groves powered her way to her fourth first-place finish with a time of 2:19.51, just over nine second faster than the second place finisher. The evening winded down with the 200-yard freestyle relay where Park, Bliss, Brown, and Beckett finished fourth with a time of 2:00.77, only .11 seconds out of a top-three finish.
The Lyons are back in action next Saturday, hosting Westfield State at 1:00pm. The University of New England will also be at home on Saturday, facing Husson at 1:00pm.
