Wellesley’s Sticco-Ivins Wins 1-Meter Diving Title on Day Two Of NEWMACs
WORCESTER, Mass. – Wellesley College swimming & diving junior Maura Sticco-Ivins (Framingham, Mass.) won her third-consecutive 1-Meter Diving title on day two of the 2017 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Sports & Recreation Center.
Sticco-Ivins claimed her third-straight First Team All-Conference honor in the event, having also won the NEWMAC 1-meter championship in 2015 and 2016. Sticco-Ivins carried a lead of 48.25 points from the preliminary to the final, finishing with a score of 491.80. Wellesley senior Maddie Stern (Phoenix, Ariz.) also added a score of 419.80 to take eighth in the event for the Blue.
MIT leads at the conclusion of Friday's action, having won all of the swimming events on day two to finish with 564 points. Springfield College (296) is in second, followed by WPI (272) in third, Wheaton College (246) in fourth, and Wellesley (223) in fifth. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy (190), Smith College (160), Clark University (143), Mount Holyoke College (114) and Babson College (88) round out the field.
The Blue opened action on Friday evening with the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, earning fifth place in the event's A- Final in 1:39.39, thanks to sophomores Sunny Chiang (Troy, Mich.) and Crystal Zhu (Chelmsford, Mass.), junior Patricia Chen (Natick, Mass.) and sophomore Cathy Chen (Parsippany, N.J.). The Blue also added a third place finish in the B – Final of the opening event, as junior Lindsey Wu (Livingston, N.J.), first year Kayleigh Svensson (Palo Alto, Calif.), and sophomores Karen Wang (Holmdel, N.J.) and Francesca Dong (Princeton Junction, N.J.) joined together to capture a time of 1:42.80.
Chiang went on to record a ninth place time of 2:11.68 in the A - Final of the 200 Yard IM, having qualified for the evening session with a tenth place mark of 2:11.93 in the preliminaries. Wang captured third in the B - Final of the 200 IM, racing to a time of 2:12.83. Wang was joined in the B - Final by Danielle Peterson (Livingston, N.J.), as the first year took eighth in 2:14.37 in her first NEWMAC Championship appearance in the event.
In the 50 Yard Freestyle, Cathy Chen had one of the best performances of the night for the Blue. Chen finished behind a trio of MIT swimmers, taking fourth in 24.29 in the A- Final. Chen was also fourth in the preliminaries with a time of 24.74 in the sprint.
Wellesley concluded the day's action with a sixth place finish in the A – Final of the 400 Yard Medley Relay. Cathy Chen, Peterson, Wang and Chiang combined for the Blue's top time of 4:01.97. Wellesley was also sixth in the B – Final, as Svensson, Wu, Feng and Patricia Chen finished in 4:10.27.
Saturday features the 400 Yard IM, 100 Yard Butterfly, 200 Yard Freestyle, 100 Yard Breaststroke, 100 Yard Backstroke, and 200 Yard Medley Relay. Trials begin at 10:00 AM and finals at 6:00 PM.
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