LEWISTON, Me. – The Wesleyan women's swimming and diving team opened the season with a 178-109 NESCAC loss to Bates, but picked up four individual victories as
Zoe Kuhn '26,
Mia Dezelic '27, and
Sophie Taubman '25 all brought home first-place finishes in their respective events on Saturday afternoon from Bates' Tarbell Pool.
The Cardinals totaled 31 Top 5 placements.
Taubman finished with two wins on the day from the board as she won the 1-meter event with a score of 170.63 and won the 3-meter as the only competitor in the event, tallying a score of 124.28. Running second to Taubman in the 1-meter was teammate
Stella Oman '26, scoring 142.81.
Kuhn and Dezelic each brought in first and second-place finishes for the Cardinals. In the 200-yard freestyle, Kuhn touched the wall at 2:00.04 for the win and placed second in the 100-yard freestyle as she clocked a final 53.37. Dezelic won the 200-yard backstroke at 2:10.29 and finished second at 2:14.50 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Another runner-up placement was
Sara Bohacek '26, taking second in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:10.62 and finished fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke as she clocked a 2:33.58.
Izzy Pennington '24 finished second in the 200-yard freestyle behind Kuhn at 2:00.75. Pennington then took third in the 200-yard backstroke for a 2:14.31 final.
Izzy Paez '26 claimed third place in the 200-yard butterfly as she swam a 2:19.82. Paez picked up another third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing with a final 1:00.50. Another duo of bronze finishes went to
Olivia Stevenson '25 in the distance events. Stevenson finished the 1,000-yard freestyle in third with a 10:58.0 and the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:30.50.
Placing in the Top 5 in three events, the most for the Cardinals on the day, was
Victoria Carroll '24. Carroll finished third in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:02.19, fourth in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:14.80, and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:01.68.
Fourth-place finishers included
Bella Kellner '24 in the 50-yard freestyle (25.65),
Nora Bootchk '26 in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:13.0), and
Elena Baird '26 in the 200-yard butterfly (2:20.31) as well as fifth place in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:00.0).
Rounding the Top 5 times for the Cardinals were
Eloise Lavacek '24 in the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.30),
Jadyn George '25 in the 50-yard freestyle (26.40),
Danielle Eforo '25 in the 500-yard freestyle (5:48.68), and
Sadie Woodruff '26 in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:13.47) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:38.22).
In the 200-yard medley relay, Pennington, Bootchk, Kellner, and Kuhn placed third (1:53.45) and in fourth was Dezelic, Bohacek, Paez, and George (1:53.53). For the 400-yard freestyle relay, Pennington, Kuhn, Kellner, and Paez placed second (3:42.10), and Bohacek, Stevenson, George, and Anna Conway '26 were fourth (3:51.22).
The Cardinals return to the pool on Monday, Nov. 20, when they host Amherst in a NESCAC matchup beginning at 5 p.m. in the Webster Family Natatorium.
