Springfield Takes Early Lead at 2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championship

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Ten-time reigning champion Springfield College has taken the early lead after one day of competition at the 2011 NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championship. The Pride collected two victories on their way to 276.5 points. They hold a slight advantage over MIT (273.5), which also earned a pair of wins. A total of 10 squads are taking part in the event at the Mount Holyoke College Natatorium. The opening day featured three Championship records.

Mount Holyoke's top performance of the day came from senior Michelle Kroll, sophomore Madeline Magee, first year Lauren Williams and junior Lydia Bowers, who broke the program record in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a sixth place time of 1:40.71.

The Springfield foursome of Kellie Pennington, Jaclyn Van Waalwijk, Caroline Kosciusko and Kaitlin Reilly joined forces to post a NEWMAC Championship record time of 1:35.10 in the race. They finished more than a second ahead of MIT's Christy Rogers, Katelyn Rossick, Nicole Wang and Elina Hu, who grabbed second place with a time of 1:36.76. Both squads provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.

Coast Guard Academy's Kimberly Shadwick repeated as champion in the 500-yard freestyle with her time of 5:00.71. She was followed by Wellesley College's Keelin Nave, who touched the wall in 5:04.88. Both swimmers met the NCAA "B" standard with their times.

MIT's Anna Kokensparger also became a repeat champion with her time of 2:04.99 in the 200-yard individual medley. Rossick collected second place in the race with a time of 2:08.73. The teammates each provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with their performances.

The top performance of the day came from Pennington in the 50-yard freestyle. After shattering the NEWMAC Open and Championship records with her time of 23.18 in the preliminaries, she clocked a 23.60 in the finals to clinch her second victory of the night. The rookie also met the NCAA "A" standard with her showing in the preliminaries. Wheaton College's Dania Piscetta hit the NCAA "B" cut with her second place time of 24.07.

In the one-meter diving finals, Clark's Eileen Garcia defended her title with a score of 476.00. She was followed by a pair of Springfield divers.

MIT closed out the opening day with a convincing win in the 400-yard medley relay. The quartet of Rogers, Morganne Klein, Kokensparger and Hu joined forces to post a NEWMAC Championship record time of 3:52.60. They also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship in the event. Wheaton (3:59.52) and Coast Guard (4:00.64) rounded out the top three.

Tomorrow's first session will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200-yard medley relay, the 400-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard backstroke. The trials of the three meter diving event will begin at 1:30 p.m., while finals for the day's events will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Throughout the weekend, fans will be able to follow the action at the Championship Website. Included on the site are the meet schedule, psyche sheet and spectator information. Live results will be provided in addition to daily recaps and statistics.

For complete Day One results, click here.

2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championship

Team Standings (Through Day 1)
1. Springfield College – 276.5
2. MIT – 273.5
3. Coast Guard Academy – 159
4. Wheaton College – 110.5
5. Wellesley College – 106.6
6. Clark University – 104.5
7. Smith College – 77
8. WPI – 51
9. Babson College – 46
10. Mount Holyoke College - 36

2011 NEWMAC Women's Swimming and Diving All-Conference Teams
(Event Winners Earn First Team All-Conference)

! - NEWMAC Championship record
^ - NEWMAC Open record
@ - NCAA "A" standard
& - NCAA "B" standard