Chen's 100-Back Win Highlights Season Opener For Blue Swimming & Diving

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Wellesley College swimming & diving opened the 2016-17 season on Sunday afternoon, competing in a tri-dual with New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference rivals MIT and Springfield College at MIT's Zesiger Center Pool. The host Engineers defeated the Blue, 236-55, while Springfield also earned a win over Wellesley. 

Wellesley posted eleven top-five times on the afternoon, highlighted by sophomore Cathy Chen's (Parsippany, N.J.) victory in the 100-Back. Chen recorded the top time of 1:00.70 in the fourth race of the day, finishing ahead of Nanette Wu (Cupertino, Calif.) and Catherine Wu (Pearland, Texas) of MIT, who tied for second in 1:01.08. Also competing in the 100-Back, Blue first year Kayleigh Svensson (Palo Alto, Calif) and sophomore Francesca Dong (Princeton Junction, N.J.) added times of 1:06.85 and 1:10.36, respectively. 

Chen just missed a second first place finish, taking second thanks to a great effort later in the meet in the 50-Free. Chen finished the sprint in 24.87, while MIT's Roni Jedryka (Arlington Heights, Ill.) was first in 24.72. 

Svensson and Dong opened the day as part of the Blue's 'B' relay team in the 400 Medley Relay. The duo teamed with junior Lindsey Wu (Livingston, N.J.) and first year Maggie Haley (Shady Side, Md.) to take seventh in 4:20.78. The Blue's 'A' relay of sophomores Sunny Chiang (Troy, Mich.), Cathy Chen, Karen Wang (Holmdel, N.J.) and Jessie Feng (Princeton, N.J.) raced to a time of 4:09.66 to take third. MIT won the event in 3:59.91. Wu went on to post a top time in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, earning an individual top-five finish in 1:12.23. She was also top-five in the 200-Breaststroke in 2:35.75. 

Wang took third in the 200-Fly in 2:14.74, narrowly missing a second place finish behind MIT's Maddie Severance (Brookfield, Wis.), who touched the wall in 2:14.66. Kyla Holman of MIT won the event in 2:10.80, while Wellesley added another top-five finish thanks to a time of 2:17.48 from Feng. Wang went on to record a second third-place finish in the 100-Fly, racing to a time of 1:00.88, as little separated the top-three in the event.

Also in action for the Blue, Chiang took third in the 200-Back with a very competitive time of 2:14.84, while first year Danielle Peterson (Livingston, N.J.) added a top-five spot in the 500-Free, finishing in 5:38.19. Peterson, sophomore Crystal Zhu (Chelmsford, Mass.), Dong and Cathy Chen finished the day by earning the Blue a third-place finish in the 200-Free Relay. Wellesley's 'A' relay finished the event in 1:42.44.  

In diving, first year Zubyn D'Costa (Princeton, N.J.) competed in both the one and three-meter events for the Blue. D'Costa was tenth on the 1-meter board with a score of 123.50 and seventh in the 3-meter event, scoring 132.00.

Wellesley swimming & diving will return home to Chandler Pool on Saturday, November 12, when they host Simmons College at 1:00 PM.