NCAA Cuts, School Records Highlight Day One of NEWMAC Swimming & Diving

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley College swimming and diving team got of to a fast start on day one of the 2013 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships on Friday. After six completed events, Wellesley sits in third place with 138 total points at MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center.

Day one featured preliminaries and finals in the 200-free relay, the 500-free, the 200-IM, the 50-free and the 400-medley relay. Three-meter diving was also contested.

The Blue's action on day one was highlighted by an NCAA "B" cut, three school records and an NCAA diving standard met. Overall five individual swimmers and one diver qualified past preliminary action.

Wellesley's 400-medley "A" relay team, who set a school record with a 4:00.83 in the prelims, smashed the program record with a 3:57.06 to finish third in the finals. The team was comprised of junior Gabriela Kovacikova, first-year Charlotte Harris, first-year Dorothy Ren, and junior Mariam Amirkhanashvili. The Blue's previous 400-medley relay record was a 4:04.62, set in 2007 (RC Saint-Amour, Jenny Wu, Hilary Gram, Savanna Johnson). In the preliminaries, Ren also earned an NCAA "B" cut, and set a new school record by swimming a 57.03 in the 100-back leg.

Wellesley's 400-medley "B" relay also had a fantastic swim, as junior Emma Mrkonic, first-year Emily Sotomayor, first-year Theresa Mitchell, and sophomore Monica Gates, combined to swim a 4:00.32. Had the "B" relay team been eligible for the finals, the Blue would have placed fifth overall in the event.

In the day's other relay, the 200-free, Wellesley's "A" team ranked fourth overall, turning in a time of 1:39.37. Ren led off, followed by Gates, first-year Ieva Galinyte, and Amirkhanashvili. The Blue's "B" relay team recorded a 1:41.74, as sophomore Kendra Waters, Mitchell, Sotomayor, and Mrkonic, combined for a 13th place finish.

The Blue had three swimmers qualify to the evening session in the 500-free, the most of any event for Wellesley. Leading the way was Galinyte who qualified to the finals and finished in fourth place in a time of 5:08.10. In the consolation heat, Harris took 11th overall, in 5:13.00, while junior Anne Hamilton placed 15th in 5:19.41.

In the 200-IM, Sotomayor was the lone Wellesley swimmer to qualify to the swim in the evening. After narrowly missing the finals, she swam a 2:12.19 in the consolation final, placing 10th overall. In the process, Sotomayor broke a nine-year old Wellesley record (Meredith Cowie - 2:13.08 - 2004) by nearly a second. Rounding out the swimming events, two Blue swimmers advanced to the consolation finals in the 50-free. Gates placed 12th overall in a time of 25.12, while Amirkhanashvili finished 15th in 25.24.

In the diving competition, three Wellesley divers faced a tough NEWMAC field, with junior Hayley Goydan qualifying to the finals and placing third overall. Goydan posted a finals score of 442.80 to rank third overall out of 21 divers. Also competing for the Blue, sophomore Gabby Cooper-Vespa scored a 398.90 to finish 12th overall, while senior Kathryn Goffin recorded a 331.45 to rank 17th. Showing the depth of the NEWMAC diving field, all eight divers in the finals posted NCAA qualifying scores, as did three divers who failed to qualify for the finals.

Overall, defending champion, MIT, leads the field with a score of 321, followed by Springfield (229) and Wellesley (138).  Coast Guard sits in fourth (127), Mount Holyoke is fifth (96), and Wheaton is sixth (84). Wrapping up the team scores are Clark (69), Smith (65), Babson (57), and WPI (54).

NEWMAC Championship action continues tomorrow morning at 10:00am with preliminary heats of the 200-medley really, the 400-IM, the 100-fly, the 200-free, the 100-breast and the 100-back.