The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

WELLESLEY, Mass. - Day one of the 2008 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Swimming and Diving Championships saw two conference records broken as well as several NCAA cut times surpassed.

After six events, Springfield leads all teams with a score of 234. MIT is close behind with 209.5 points, while Wheaton is in third place with a score of 184.

In the 200-free relay, the Wheaton College team of Abby Pratt (Melrose, Mass.), Meg Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), Dania Piscetta (Belmont, N.H.), and Nicole Zais (Sudbury, Mass.) took first place in a time of 1:38.44, earning the foursome first-team All-Conference honors.

In the 500-free, MIT's Sasha Brophy (Cupertino, Calif.) swam a 5:06.50 to take first place while in the 200-IM, Babson's Meg Lynch (Holden, Mass.) earned first-team honors with a 2:09.86.

Springfield's Moira Price (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) earned an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 50-freestyle. Her time of 23.69 also set a new conference record, besting the mark set last year by Wellesley's Savanna Johnson (Bloomington, Ind.). Six other competitors earned NCAA "B" cut times in the event, including Wheaton's Pratt, Coast Guard's Joan Hunter (Warren, Pa.), MIT's Amy Jacobi (Cranbury, N.J.), Babson's Mia Filippini (Lake Forest, Ill.), and Johnson and Cathy Poon (McLean, Va.) of Wellesley.

In the one-meter diving finals, Doria Holbrook (Yakima, Wash.), the 2007 NCAA Division III Runner-Up, repeated as NEWMAC Champion with a score of 517.45. Her point total breaks her previous NEWMAC record of 513.65, set at last year's championships.

Also making a strong showing in the one-meter event, Smith's Shanti Freitas (Evanston, Ill.) placed second with an NCAA top-10 score of 473.85.

Rounding out the day's action, Wheaton took first place in the 400-free relay. The team, composed of Iris Meehan (Bar Harbor, Maine), Emily Sweatt (Portland, Maine), Piscetta and Pratt, swam a 3:58.19, which is one of the top-10 times in the nation.

Tomorrow's first session begins at 11:00 a.m. with the prelims of the 200-medley relay, the 100-free, the 200-breast, the 200-fly, the 400-free relay and the 1650-free. The trials of the 3-meter diving event will begin at 1:30pm while finals for the day's events will begin at 6:30 pm.

For complete day one results, click here.

Team Standings
Springfield          234
MIT                           209.5
Wheaton                  184
Wellesley                 153.5
Coast Guard            118
Smith                       89
Babson                    86
Clark                60
WPI                         56
Mount Holyoke        50

Event Winners/First Team All-Conference
200 Free Relay Wheaton College 1:38.44
(Abby Pratt, Meg Miller, Dania Piscetta, Nicole Zais)
500 Free Sasha Brophy (MIT)        5:06.50
200 IM Meg Lynch (Babson)            2:09.86
50 Free Moira Price (Springfield)    23.69*!
400 Medley Relay Wheaton College                                    3:58.19
(Iris Meehan, Emily Sweatt, Dania Piscetta, Abby Pratt)
1 Meter Diving Doria Holbrook (MIT)                                    517.45*

* - New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
Championship record.
+ - NCAA "B"/provisional standard.
! - NCAA "A" standard.

Springfield Leads After Day One of NEWMAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships