Record 400 Free Relay Helps Blue Swim & Dive Clinch Fifth at NEWMACs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley College swimming & diving 400 Free Relay team took runner-up honors in program record time to help the Blue clinch fifth place at the 2020 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships on Sunday at MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool.

[The standings were updated following the Championships due to an error in scoring. Wellelsey was listed as the fourth place team in an earlier version of this story.] 

The host Engineers claimed the NEWMAC Women's Championship for the tenth consecutive year, finishing with 1356.5 points. Wheaton claimed second place with 893 points and WPI jumped into third with 645 points. Springfield place fourth with 623 points and the Blue finished with 619.5 points to take fifth. Coast Guard took sixth (556.5), with Babson in seventh (343.5) and Smith in eighth (329). Mount Holyoke was ninth (267) and Clark finished 10th (160).

First year Shawyuan Hsu (Taipei, Taiwan), senior Danielle Peterson (Livingston, N.J.), sophomore Jessica Wegner (Taipei, Taiwan), and junior Hannah May (Cincinnati, Ohio) earned silver and All-Conference accolades in the 400 Free Relay in 3:31.87, topping the previous program mark of 3:32.07 set in 2016.

Wegner added another program record earlier in the day, taking down her own school record in a 100 IM time trial. Wegner recorded a time of 59.21, dropping the Wellesley mark under a minute for the first time in program history. Wegner now owns the Wellesley program mark in the 50 and 100 Fly, 100 and 200 IM, and as part of 200 and 400 Free Relay teams.

The Blue totalled five more top-ten times across four events on the final night of the Championships. Peterson and May each finished in the top-ten in the 100 Free, taking eighth (53.69) and tenth (53.75), respectively. First year Elizabeth Park (Dix Hills, N.Y.) added a fourth place finish in the 200 Breast (2:24.26).

In the 200 Back, senior Kayleigh Svensson (Palo Alto, Calif.) jumped from tenth during prelims to eighth in the finals with a time of 2:10.97. Classmate Maggie Haley (Shady Side, Md.) was ninth in the A Final of the 200 Fly in 2:12.30. Sophomore Alexandra Bullen-Smith (Lawrenceville, N.J. ) was the top Wellesley finisher in the 1650 Free with a time of 19:15.05 in the prelims.

In 1-Meter Diving, sophomore Emma Roberts (Boxford, Mass.) was 14th (303.15) and first year Claire Moreland (San Francisco, Calif.) was 20th (258.10) in the prelims. Each diver recorded a collegiate best in the event.

Wellesley last captured the NEWMAC Conference title during the 1999-2000 season.