Blue Swimming & Diving Concludes Busy Weekend at MIT Invitational

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Led by top-ten finishes in the 100 Free and the 200 IM on Sunday, Wellesley College swimming & diving finished the annual MIT Winter Invitational in fifth place in the team standings.

NYU took first at the event, followed by the host Engineers in second, Tufts in third and Wheaton in fourth. Wellesley finished fifth, while Keene St. rounded out the field after three days of competition.

Sophomores Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.) and Sunny Chiang (Troy, Mich.) had the top Wellesley times in Sunday's finals. Chen took eighth in the final of the 100 Free with a time of 54.90. Chiang also secured an eighth place finish in the 200 IM, touching the wall with a time of 2:14.08.

Chen started the evening by helping the Blue earn a runner-up finish in the B-Final of the 200 Medley Relay. The sophomore teamed with first year Danielle Peterson (Livingston, N.J.), and sophomores Karen Wang (Holmdel, N.J.) and Crystal Zhu (Chelmsford, Mass.) to finish in 1:52.88. First year Kayleigh Svensson (Palo Alto, Calif.) and sophomores Emma MaGee (Stormville, N.Y.), Jessie Feng (Princeton, N.J.), and Francesca Dong (Princeton Junction, N.J.) added an eighth place finish in 1:56.13, while  Wellesley also won the C-Final in 2:00.73 thanks to the efforts of juniors Lindsey Wu (Livingston, N.J.) and Sophia Dillon-Davidson (Amhesrt, Mass.) and first years Maggie Haley (Shady Side, Md.) and Sarah Gladstone (Brookline, Mass.).

Svensson was Wellesley's top-finisher in the next event, the 500 Free, taking seventh in the B-Final of the middle distance event with a time of 5:27.95. The Blue would go on to add more completive times in B-Finals before the evening was through.

Chiang took first in the B-Final of the 200 Back in 2:09.21, while Peterson was the runner-up in the B-Final of the 200 IM in 2:17.25. Peterson also added third place (2:31.85) finish in the B-Final of the 200 Breast. Wu added a time of 2:34.30 to take fifth in the 200 Breast B-Final. Also in action in the 100 Fly, Feng took eighth in the B-Final in 1:00.75. 

Feng, Peterson, Chiang, and Chen ended the weekend with a ninth place time in the Final of 400 Free Relay 3:39.91. Also competing in the final event of the meet, Gladstone, Dillon-Davidson, Dong, and Zhu recorded a time of 3:55.25.

Wellesley returns home to Chandler Pool in 2017, hosting Babson and Coast Guard on Senior Day at 1:00 PM on Thursday, January 5.