Record-Setting Day for Wellesley to Open NEWMAC Swimming & Diving Championships

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- On day one of the 2011 NEWMAC Swimming & Diving Championships, the Wellesley Blue came away with several lifetime bests, including two school records and an NCAA cut time.

Overall, the Blue sit in fifth place after day one of three days of action.  Wellesley's team total of 106 points puts them just 4.5 points behind fourth place Wheaton (110.5).  Springfield (276.5), MIT (273.5) and Coast Guard (159) occupy the top three team spots, while Clark (104.5), Smith (77), WPI (51), Babson (46) and Mount Holyoke (36) round out the field.

Leading the way for the Blue was first-year Keelin Nave (pictured), who notched a record-setting performance in the 500-freestyle.  In the preliminaries, she swam a 5:08.15 to break the 21-year old record of 5:11.99 held by Deb Twichell. In her encore performance, Nave raced to a second place finish in the finals, touching the wall in 5:04.88, not only a new school record, but an NCAA "B" cut time.  The second place finish earns Nave second team All-Conference honors.

Wellelsey's Emma Mrkonic also had a record-setting day, swimming a program best time of 59.93 in a time trial of the 100-backstroke.  The first-year's time came in her first competition of the season and broke the record of 59.97 previously set by Meredith Cowie in 2004.

The Blue also had two solid relay performances, nabbing fifth place in both the 200-freestyle relay and the 400-medley relay.  In the free, the team of senior Dana Dutton, sophomore Carolyn Jackson and first-years Megan Lambert and Mariam Amirkhanashvili touched the wall in 1:39.98. In the medley relay, junior Stephanie Welch and sophomore Virginia Hung paired with Jackson and Amirkhanashvili to finish in 4:06.38, taking over five seconds off of their time in the prelims.

Other individual highlights for Wellesley included a 12^th place finish from Amirkhanashvili, a 13^th place finish from Dutton and a 14^th place finish from Jackson.  Amirkhanashvili swam a 25.08 in the 50-free, Dutton notched a 5:16.86 in the 500-free and  Jackson's time of 2:17.17 came in the 200-IM.

Rounding out the swimming action, first-year Anne Hamilton narrowly missed making the finals in the 500-free, recording a 5:19.77, while Hung took 18^th overall in 2:18.16 in the 200-IM.

At the diving end, first-year Hayley Goydan qualified for the finals of the 1-meter diving event where she finished eighth overall with a score of 376.65.  Other strong diving performances for the Blue included sophomores Chelsea-Ann Patry (308.50) and Kathryn Goffin (301.70) who finished 19^th and 21^st overall.

Tomorrow's first session will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200-yard medley relay, the 400-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard backstroke. The trials of the three meter diving event will begin at 1:30 p.m., while finals for the day's events will begin at 6:30 p.m.

2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championship

1. Springfield College - 276.5
2. MIT - 273.5
3. Coast Guard Academy - 159
4. Wheaton College - 110.5
5. Wellesley College - 106.6
6. Clark University - 104.5
7. Smith College - 77
8. WPI - 51
9. Babson College - 46
10. Mount Holyoke College - 36

2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving All-Conference Teams
(Event Winners Earn First Team All-Conference)

! - NEWMAC Championship record
^ - NEWMAC Open record
@ - NCAA "A" standard
& - NCAA "B" standard