SOUTH HADLEY, MA (January 14, 2016) – The Vassar College women's swimming and diving teams traveled to Massachusetts Thursday afternoon to take on Mount Holyoke College and Trinity College in a pair of dual meets from the Mount Holyoke Natatorium. Vassar fell to the hosts Lyons 163-136, but was able to knock off Trinity 195-84.

The three teams competed in the pool at the same time, but the swimmers were then awarded points on the finishes against each other as if the third team wasn't there, creating the dual meet scores. The meet was a tough one for the Brewers, who have been training on the long course in Florida over break, but had to return to the cold of the Northeast and trek on the road Thursday still exhausted from the travel.

"We had a good meet today at Mount Holyoke," said head coach Lisl Prater-Lee. "On the women's side, the closer meet for us was with Mt Holyoke and we knew we would have a tough battle. To come down to the final two events was a testament to how well our women competed, as well as the extremely strong showing from our women divers who swept both the 1M and 3M diving events."

"In the end, Mt Holyoke had a great racing day so hats off to them," said Prater-Lee. "We are looking forward to seeing them next weekend at Seven Sisters championships."

The Vassar College women started the day with the 200 yard medley relay, with the "A" team finished third with a time of 1:59.25, thanks to the efforts from senior Milee Nelson (Champaign, IL/University Laboratory), Anna Kuo (Floral Park, NY/Townsend Harris), Hayley Shultz (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) and Lily Frye (Fairport, NY/Harley School).

Freshman Kael Ragnini (Barrington, IL/Barrington) followed that with a strong performance in the 1000 free, as she finished second with a time of 11:14.40. Ragnini looked strong through the water, and swam her second-fastest 50 meters on the last lap, a 33:08 to end the race. Sophomore Cali Corbett (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) was fourth, but picked up some very valuable points in the meet with a 11:48.73.

Freshman Sammy Stone (Wake Forest, NC/Cardinal Gibbons) then toed the blocks in the 200 free and continued to do what she has all season, which is win. Stone picked up the first her two victories on Thursday in the 200 free, as she won by over six seconds with a time of 1:58.09.

Teammate Marie Schmidt (Homer, AK/Homer) followed Stone with a 2:04.94 to take third place, as she was just off her season-best time. Kuo was next up in the 100 backstroke for VC, and she took third with a time of 1:07.26.

Schultz was back in the pool next after her shooting in the 200 medley relay for the 100 breaststroke, swimming a strong race to finish second with a 1:09.29, just off the winning time of 1:09.09. Teammate Julia Wieczorek (Milltown, NJ/Bishop George Ahr) took fourth in the race with a 1:16.84, and Kayla Schwab (Raritan, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) completed VC's trio in the top five with a 1:17.39.

Next up was the 200 butterfly, but one familiar face was not on the blocks for Vassar Thursday. Junior All-American Julia Cunningham (Yardley, PA/Peddie School) did not swim, but she had a teammate come through anyways, as Nelson earned a thrilling win in the event with a 2:23.68. It was the first time this season Nelson has raced in the 200 fly.

In the 50 free, freshman Kristie-Anna Covaci (New York, NY/LaGuardia Music Art) registered her season-best time with a 26.26, taking third place, while Frye was right behind her with a 26.46 for fourth. Freshman Meg Harrington (Wilbraham, MA/Wilbraham & Monson Academy) took sixth place after posting a 27.41.

Stone was up next, and again the freshman was stellar, earning another win in the 100 free with a time of 55.87. She has now chalked up four times under 56 seconds this year for VC. Covaci continued her strong swimming with a 58.66 for sixth place, .01 under her previous season-best.

Vassar College would see another solid performance in the pool in the 200 backstroke, as Ragnini finished second with a 2:21.94. Kuo was also second in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:38.11, while Schmidt and Corbett went 2-3 in the 500 free with times of 5:34.41 and 5:43.15, respectively.

Later in the final individual swimming event of the day Stone registered a second-place finish in the 200 IM with a  2:18.18, the first time she has swam that race at Vassar. Schultz followed Stone by chalking up a third-pace spot in 2:24.03 after swimming a great third 50 to catch and pass Lauren D'Angelo of Trinity.

The 400 free relay would conclude the swimming Thursday, and Vassar's "A" team took second on the strengths of Covaci, Schmidt, Frye and Stone. Stone's 56.72 was the fourth-fastest 50 split of the relay.

In diving, freshman Mia Moraru (Meriden, CT/Hamden Hall Country Day School), senior Maya Pruitt (New York, NY/LaGuardia Music Art) and Nora Kyrkiebo (Singapore/United World College of Southeast Asia) went 1-2-3 in the 3-meter dive. Moraru registered 220 points, as Pruitt finished with 215.20 and Krykiebo posted 196 points.

The 1-meter diving event was also won by Moraru, as she chalked up 235.15 points. Kryrkiebo was second with 222.65 points, narrowly outlasting her Pruitt for second by .30 points.

The Brewers will return to the pool this Saturday, January 16 in Clinton, NY at 1 p.m., swimming against Hamilton College and Rochester Institute of Technology in another pair of dual meets.