SCHNECTADY, NY (October 24, 2015) – The Vassar women's swimming team took third overall Saturday afternoon at the Union College Relays. The Brewers scored 100 points as a team, 14 points outside of 2nd-place Union and 18 points behind winner SUNY New Paltz.
"We are very happy with how the women performed this afternoon," said head coach Lisl Prater-Lee. "This is the sort of meet format that allows us to have fun, not be overly concerned with times but have every opportunity to get up and race. It's a good stepping stone for the rest of the season. It also gave us a chance to see how we can match up with New Paltz at our home meet this next Friday."
The team swam 11 contested events, and many Brewers rose to the challenge swimming in successive races throughout the meet. The Vassar women came out strong in the first event, the 400 medley relay with the A team (Kael Ragnini, Hayley Schultz, Julia Cunningham, Sammy Stone) taking second (4:10.72), approximately six seconds off of the school record. The B team (McDaniels, Kuo, Nelson, Frye) put together a strong finish too, with a mark of 4:24.56. Kuo swam an impressive 1:10.92 breaststroke split on that relay.
Kuo continued her strong breaststroke showing by teaming up with McDaniels, Weiczorek, and Schultz for a second place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:18.03). Stepping into some unfamiliar territory, Marie Schmidt contributed a strong leg on the 200 yard fly relay with her 30.26 with teammates Julia Cunningham (27.29), Schultz (28.65), and Nelson (30.03) combining for a third place finish (1:56.23).
The 500 crescendo relay with Meg Harrington, Lily Fyre, Kael Ragnini, and Sammy Stone teamed up for a second place (4:54.57) effort with Stone anchoring in an impressive 1:57.65. Vassar's A 200 free relay had a strong early-season performance with their 1:47.50, fourth place finish. Julia Wieczorek (28.07), Cali Corbett (26.73), Meg Harrington (26.93), and Lily Frye (25.77) put together a solid group effort.
After a short break, Vassar came back strong in the 4 x 100 individual medley relay with the A team of Schultz (1:06.68), Nelson (1:08.23), Kuo (1:04.59), and Cunningham (1:02.24) grabbing 2nd place (4:21.74). The B team of Wieczorek (1:09.54), Carroll (1:12.10), Schwab (1:13.15), and McDaniels (1:12.03) teamed up for a ninth place finish. Finding yet another gear for another race, the 200 medley relay A team of Ragnini (31.50), Kuo (32.68), Stone (28.30), and Frye (26.19) teamed up for second place (1:58.67).
Rounding out the swim portion of the meet, Vassar's A team of Cunningham (56.88), Harrington (58.20), Schmidt (58.05), and Stone (56.05) narrowly missed a come-from-behind victory with their 3:45.40 effort to New Paltz's 3:44.47 victorious time.
On the diving end of the pool, the three Vassar women divers of Maya Pruitt, Nora Kyrkjebo, and Mia Moraru teamed up for a combined 11-dive effort in both 1-meter and 3-meter diving. The trio combined for 373.50 points in 1-meter diving, a second place finish. On 3-meter, the trio earned a score of 407.40 points for a second place effort. One highlight was Kyrkjebo's reverse 1 1/2 on 3-meter on which she scored 7s from the judges.
Vassar will return to Kresge Pool on Friday, October 30 to swim a dual meet against SUNY-New Paltz at 6:00 pm.
--VASSAR--
