WATERVILLE, Me. – A strong finish from Mengmeng Gibbs '22 and a school record from Ainsley Dodson '25 highlighted the weekend of competition for the Wesleyan women's swimming & diving team at the NESCAC Championships hosted by Colby College. The Cardinals placed ninth of 11 teams with 534.5 points. Tufts won the 2022 NESCAC Championship.
Racing in her signature event, Gibbs advanced to the finals of the 50 breast and recorded a season-best time of 29.93 seconds to take sixth place out of 44 competitors in the event.
Later on in the day, Dodson made history, clocking in with the fastest 200 IM time ever recorded by a Cardinal as she touched the wall in 2:07.33 to finish 11th out of 50 competitors. Dodson bested the previous-high mark of Zoe Kerrich '18 (2:08.20), which had stood for almost four years, by nearly a full second.
Other strong performances from the Cardinals throughout the NESCAC Championships included the 200 free relay, as Sarah Schou '23, Gibbs, Jadyn George '25 and Izzy Pennington '24 combined to finish ninth of 22 teams with a time of 1:37.54.
Amanda McHugh '22 placed 11th of 48 in the 50 fly with a time of 26.19 seconds while she later took 14th of 52 in the 100 fly with a time of 57.65 seconds.
Gibbs nearly placed in the 100 breast later in the weekend, just missing the finals by two spots as she finished 10th of 45 with a time of 1:05.62.
In the 1-meter dive, Zoe Paglia '23 continued her strong season, narrowly missing the finals with a 10th place finish and score of 329.00. In the 3-meter dive, it was Talia Lanckton '22 leading the Cardinals with an 11th place result and score of 334.45.
Victoria Carroll '24 joined McHugh with a solid showing in the 50 fly as she swam her best marks of the season at the NESCAC Championships, placing 17th of 48 with a time of 26.23 seconds.
In the 50 free, it was Schou who led Wesleyan with a time of 24.61 seconds that earned her a 14th place finish out of over 70 swimmers.
Olivia Stevenson '25 was the top distance swimmer for the Cardinals at the meet as she clocked in at 10:31.77 in the 1000 free which was good enough for 14th place of 38.
Two more Wesleyan relay groups showed well as the 400 medley team of Pennington, Gibbs, McHugh and Schou combined for a time of 3:53.25 which placed them ninth of 22 teams. Later in the 400 free, it was Schou, Gibbs, Bella Kellner '24 and George who placed 10th of 22 teams with a time of 3:32.90.
Next up for Wesleyan is the NESCAC Invite on Sunday, February 20 hosted again at Colby College.
