Posted: Jan 07, 2015

Blue Swimming & Diving Cruises to Victory Over Babson, Coast Guard

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College swimming & diving delivered a complete performance on Wednesday afternoon, defeating New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference rivals Babson College and the United States Coast Guard Academy at Chandler Pool. The Blue raced to a 197-67 victory over local rival Babson College while also topping Coast Guard 182-90. In the head-to-head matchup between Babson and Coast Guard, the Bears women's team raced to a 211-56 victory while the men earned a 142-104 victory.

The Blue opened the afternoon with a one-two victory in the 200-Medley Relay as the Wellesley 'A' team of sophomore Hannah Augst, junior Charlotte Harris,junior Dorothy Ren and senior Keelin Nave recored a time of 1:51.28 to finish ahead of the Wellesley 'B' team of Sharon Wu, Erin Yang, Sarah May, and Patricia Chen, who touched the wall at 1:55.15.

In the second event in the women's competition, the 1000-Free, Wellesley's Leah Furman cruised to acomfortable finish ahead of her teammmate Harris with a time of 10:49.91. Harris was the next closest competitor 11:16.85.

In the 200-Free, Nave finished first, winning the second heat with a time of 1:56.45 to take the overall event ahead of Coast Guard's Darlene Sao at 1:59.34. Wellesley's Patricia Chen took third touching the wall at 2:06.12.

In the 100-Back, Augst and sophomore Sharon Wu gave the Blue another one-two finish. Augst clocked in at 1:01.59, narrowly finishing ahead of Wu, who finished with a time of 1:02.29. Sharon Wu would later grab a first place finsih of her own in the 200-Back, finishing ahead of teammate Leah furman with a time of 2:17.80.

Wellesley one-upped the first and second place finishes in the 100-Back in the next event, the 100-Breast. Dorothy Ren, junior Erin Yang and first year Lindsey Wu swept the top three spots for the Blue, with Ren finishing at 1:10.64, Yang at 1:11.11 and Wu at 1:13.89. Ren also picked up a victory in the 100-Free with a time of 54.52. She was followed by Harris who finished at 55.65.

Yang followed up her second place time in the 100-Back by taking first in the 200-Breast with a time of 2:35.82.

Sophomore Sarah May grabbed the next Wellesley victory, taking the 200-Fly with a time of 2:16.36, racing to a narrow win over Coast Guard's Kaitlyn Toth, who finsihed at 2:17.01. May finsihed a close second to Augst in the 100-Fly, with Augst recording a time of 1:00.55 and May finishing in 1:01.39.

Nave earned the Blue's another first place finish in the 50-free, sprinting to victory over Coast Guard's Pati Eidenire. Nave outtouched Eidenire by just tenths of a second, taking the event with a score of 25:07, ahead of Eidenire's mark of 25.55. She also added a victory in the 500-Free, finishing with a time of 5:17.75, as the senior competed in her final meet at Chandler Pool.

First year Maura Sticco-Ivins delivered a 284.35 score to win the one meter diving competition while classmate Emily Moore added a score of 254.35 and sophomore Madeline Stern earned a score of 247.75 in the six-dive competition. Sticco-Ivins added a score of 284.30 in a three-meter exhibition later in the day, with Stern not far behind at 257.10.

Wellesley swimming & diving will now look to Saturday and a dual meet with Smith College at 1:00 PM.