MIT Moves to Top of Standings on Day Two of 2011 NEWMAC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Feb. 19, 2011) – The 2011 NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championship continued with seven more events today at Mount Holyoke College. With just one day remaining, MIT has overtaken 10-time reigning champion Springfield College at the top of the leader board. The Engineers prevailed in five events to increase their point total to 614.5. Springfield remains in striking distance with 577.5 points. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard Academy rounds out the top three with 309 points.

The MIT foursome of Christy Rogers (Bend, Ore./Summit), Calley Murphy (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Seaholm), Anna Kokensparger (Omaha, Neb./Duchesne Academy) and Elina Hu (Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh) joined forces to win the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.91. Earlier in the day, they broke the NEWMAC Open and Championship records with their time of 1:45.36. Springfield’s Kerry Lynch (Holden, Mass./Worcester Academy), Janella Cuyler (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith), Kaitlin Reilly (Cumberland, R.I./LaSalle Academy) and Kellie Pennington (Monson, Mass./Monson) completed the race in 1:46.69 to secure second place. Both squads provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.

In addition to shattering the NEWMAC Open and Championship records with her time of 4:29.45 in the 400-yard individual medley, MIT’s Katelyn Rossick (Middletown, Md./Middletown) also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event. She touched the wall more than eight second in front of teammate Alexandra Hall (Andover, Mass./Phillips Academy), who clocked a second place time of 4:37.89.

Pennington notched her third victory of the weekend with her time of 56.54 in the 100-yard butterfly. She was followed closely by MIT’s Anna Kokensparger (Omaha, Neb./Duchesne Academy) (57.14), Wellesley College’s Keelin Nave (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest Senior) (57.61) and Reilly (57.91). All four swimmers ht the NCAA “B” cut with their times.

The Coast Guard Academy’s Heidi Gayman (St. Rafael, Calif.) took home top honors in the 200-yard freestyle with her time of 1:53.00. Rounding out the top three were fellow Bear Kimberly Shadwick (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) (1:53.75) and Clark University’s Gabriela Jijon-Nemalceff (Quito, Ecuador/Colegio Americano de Quito) (1:54.19). The trio each reached achieved the NCAA “B” standard with their times.

MIT’s third win of the night came from Morganne Klein (Campbell Hall, N.Y./Washingtonville), who completed the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.31 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championship. Wheaton College’s Nicole Zais (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) tapped in second with a time of 1:06.82.

After breaking the NEWMAC Championship record with her time of 57.10 in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke, Rogers secured MIT’s fourth win of the evening in the finals. She finished the race in 57.51. The rookie also met the NCAA “A” standard with her showing in the preliminaries. Teammate Kathryn Greskoff (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) finished second with a time of 59.49.

MIT capped off its outstanding night with a bang, winning the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:35.86. Joanna Yeh (Frederick, Md./Urbana), Sydney Giblin (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown), Rossick and Kokensparger joined forces to crush the NEWMAC Open and Championship records while also provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Springfield (7:39.98) and the Coast Guard Academy (7:41.31) also met the NCAA “B” standard.

The Championship will conclude with seven more events tomorrow. Preliminaries of the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 400-yard freestyle relay and 1650-yard freestyle will take place beginning at 11:00 a.m. The finals of the three-meter diving event will begin at 1:30 p.m., while finals for the remaining events will begin at 6:30 pm.

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 results, click here.