Williams Wraps Up Middlebury Invite

Middlebury, Vt.-- In their final tune-up before the upcoming NESCAC championships, Women's Swimming and Diving competed at the Middlebury Invitational against the hosts, archrival Amherst, University of Vermont, and Springfield.

Some of the most impressive individual performances of the weekend were in the diving events, where senior Hannah Wilson and sophomore McKenzie Murdoch were a potent one-two punch in capturing the top two spots in both the 1m and 3m competition. Wilson had one of the best performances of her career in setting the pool record in the 3m event with a score of 478.35. Murdoch finished second with a score of 474.50. Murdoch (441.25) and Wilson (423.30) then outlasted a deep 10 diver field in the 1m event, taking first and second.

First year Sarah Thompson continued her run of success in her rookie season by leading a Williams sweep of the 100 yd butterfly alongside Kathryn Ha and Kelsey Roggensack. Thompson's first place time of 59.02 was seven tenths of a second faster than Ha, in second place, who finished in 59.72. Roggensack finished slightly off pace in 1:00.10, but still clinched third place by nearly a half second. Thompson also led a sweep in the 100 yd backstroke with senior Logan Todhunter and junior Caroline Wilson. Thompson finished first in 59.77, followed by Todhunter (1:00.01) and Wilson (1:00.65). Sophomore Stephanie Nguyen finished fifth in the event (1:01.02).

Todhunter would lead a sweep of her own in the 500 yard freestyle, knocking nearly five seconds off her previous season best. Her first place finish (5:09.57) was followed by sophomore Julie Okorn (second 5:15.97) and senior Abbie Deal (third 5:17.76). Okorn captured her own individual event win by leading the way for the Ephs in the 1650 yd freestyle. Okorn held off a surge by Amherst's Stephanie Ternullo in the final 100 yards to finish in first place (17:58.98). First year Erica Bucki would finish fourth in the event with a time of 18:22.77. Junior Caroline Wilson led yet another sweep for the Ephs in the 200 yd butterfly. Wilson finished with a time of 2:05.91, 4.5 seconds ahead of second placed Sarah Thompson (2:10.40). Classmate Katharine O'Leary completed the sweep with a time of 2:14.29.

Junior Bryn Dunbar had two impressive swims in the 50 yd freestyle (2^nd) and 100 yd freestyle (3^rd). Dunbar finished thirteen hundredths of a second out of first place in the 50 with a time of 24.98, behind only Ashleigh Stoddart of Amherst (24.85). In the 100 Dunbar finished third with a time of 54.57, just ahead of teammates Kelsey Roggensack (4^th place 54.74) and Stephanie Nguyen (5^th 55.21). Roggensack would also place fourth in the 200 yd Individual Medley with a time of 2:14.86. Senior Bonnie Patchen would place fifth in the event, half a second back in 2:15.37.

The Ephs also enjoyed top 5 finishes by junior Rebecca Maher in the 200 yd freestyle (third 2:01.23) and 200 yd breaststroke (third 2:31.46). Junior Liz Visconti finished third the 100 yd breaststroke (1:110.00) and fifth in the 200 (2:34.15). First year Catherine Treesh finished fourth in the 200 (2:33.60).

The Ephs now have two weeks off to rest up and taper heading into the NESCAC Championships, which will begin at Wesleyan University on Friday February 17^th. Williams will be searching for their 12 consecutive NESCAC championship title.