MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In an outcome that came down to the final event of the day, the Wesleyan women's swimming and diving team edged out Hamilton by thirteen-hundredths of a second in the 100 free relay to secure just enough points to topple the Continentals 139-137 in a day that also saw the Cardinals defeat Clark 221-28, earning a home sweep of a tri-meet on Tuesday afternoon. Wesleyan (2-5) posted their highest point total in a meet (221) since the 2017-18 season while the Cardinals posted seven first place finishes across 15 events on the day.
Wesleyan's sweep was due in large part to the success of the two relay events as the Cardinals claimed first place in both the 100 medley and 100 free. In the first event of the day,
Izzy Pennington '24,
Mengmeng Gibbs '22,
Victoria Carroll '24 and
Megan Bauerle '24 secured the top spot in the 100 medley with a time of 51.49 seconds. Then in the final event of the afternoon, it was Bauerle, Gibbs,
Caitlin Chang '25 and Pennington who edged out the Continentals' top team with a time of 46.42 seconds compared to 46.55 seconds for Hamilton's A relay group.
Gibbs combined her relay wins with an individual triumph in the 25 breast as she touched the wall in 14.18 seconds as she was closely followed by
Ainsley Dodson '25 (14.57) who was the second place finisher.
It was
Jasmine Luu '25 who claimed top spot in the 50 fly as the first-year won a thriller, defeating Meredith Gioia of Hamilton by just 0.02 seconds with a time of 27.33 seconds. Luu was also third in the 50 back with a time of 28.70 seconds.
Carroll added a win in the 25 fly to go along with her 100 medley relay win as she clocked in at 12.24 seconds to edge out her teammate
Amanda McHugh '22 (12.47). Carroll was also third in the 50 fly (27.95 seconds).
Wesleyan dominated in the diving events, earning key points to help secure the victory as
Zoe Paglia '23 won the 1-meter with a final score of 198.35.
Talia Lanckton '22 took first in the 3-meter with a score of 181.70 to back up her runner-up finish in the 1-meter (183.85).
Other standout performances came from Pennington who finished second in the 50 back (28.68) and third in the 25 back (13.80), Bauerle was runner-up in the 25 free (11.93) and 50 free (25.68),
Bella Kellner '24 was third-best in the 50 free (25.91), Dodson posted a runner-up in the 100 IM (1:02.24) and was third place in the 50 breast (32.73),
Annie Volker '24 (2
nd; 5:38.96) and
Maya Milrod '24 (5:42.27) were both solid in the 500 free,
Wesleyan enjoys an off-week before a busy weekend starting with a trip to Springfield for a tri-meet with Roger Williams and the hosts Springfield on Saturday, January 15 starting at 1:00 PM. Then the Cardinals will play host to Trinity in a dual meet set for Sunday, January 16 at 2 PM.
