Blue Swimming & Diving Wins 9 of 16 Events Against #7 MIT

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College swimming and diving team hung tough with #7 MIT on Friday night, opening the 2013-14 home season with a 164-124 loss to the Engineers at Chandler Pool. MIT improves to 2-0 on the season, while the Blue's season mark moves to 2-1.

Wellesley won nine of the 16 events contested, which included three new school records and an NCAA "B" cut for the Blue. MIT grabbed wins in seven events, with their considerable depth carrying the Engineers to the team victory.

The Blue received two wins each from senior Keelin Nave, junior Gabby Cooper-Vespa, and first-years Leah Furman and Sarah May, while Wellesley's 200-yard medley relay team also recorded a victory.

Nave picked up wins in both the 100-free and the 200-free, with a third place finish in the 100-fly. In the 100-free, she recorded a 52.84, while swimming a 1:53.67 in the 200-free and a 59.25 in the 100-fly. Nave set program records on both of her freestyle swims, with her 100-free swim edging the previous best by almost a half of a second (Dorothy Ren - 53.29 - 2013) and her 200-free swim, shaving nearly two seconds off the previous mark (Ieva Galinyte - 1:55.61 - 2013). 

Furman touched first in both of the individual events she competed in tonight, winning the 500-free and the 1,000-free. In the 500-free she swam a 5:13.33, while in the 1,000, she posted a record-setting time of 10:39.30, besting the nearest competitor by over 15 seconds. Furman's school mark topped the previous Wellesley 1,000-free record of 10:45.92, set by Alex Simas in 2007.

May recorded her victories in the 100-fly and the 200-fly, while also taking fifth in the 200-IM. In the 100-fly, she swam a 58.29, eclipsing the field by nearly a second. She added a winning time of 2:08.28 in the 200-fly, hitting an NCAA "B" cut and creating a three-second cushion between her and the second place finisher.

Cooper-Vespa swept the evening's diving events, recording wins on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. On the 1-meter, she posted a score of 223.42, nearly a 20-point win, while on the 3-meter, she scored a 239.85, over 50-points better than the second place finisher.

In the 200-medley relay, Wellesley's "A" team of first-year Sharon Wu, sophomore Charlotte Harris, sophomore Dorothy Ren, and Nave, paired up for a time of 1L49.51. The Blue used a late surge, to out-touch MIT by .05. 

Also recording multiple top-four finishes for the Blue were Ren, Harris, and senior Emma Mrkonic. Ren was second in the 200-IM (2:13.69), third in the 100-back (59.81) and fourth in the 100-fly (59.35). Harris finished third in both the 200-breast (2:32.48) and the 100-breast (1:09.43), while Mrkonic was third in the 200-back (2:13.36) and fourth in the 100-back (1:00.40).

Rounding out the meet highlights, senior Mariam Amirkhanashvili and sophomore Ieva Galinyte recorded top-four finishes at the meet. Amirkhanashvili was fourth in the 50-free (25.64), while Galinyte was fourth in the 500-free (5:20.16).

Wellesley swimming and diving is back in action on Wednesday, December 4th, as the Blue host Tufts University at 4:00pm.