Women's Swimming & Diving (9-6-1) Takes Third at NEWMACs, 20 School Records Fall

The Wheaton College women's swimming & diving team took third place among 10 institutions at the three-day New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship over the weekend, matching last year's program-best finish, while 20 school records fell and provisional qualifications for the NCAA Championship were met in nine events. Sophomore Nicole Zais (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) set a school mark with five all-league accolades, necessitating finishing among the top two in a finals race, while classmate Dania Piscetta (Belmont, NH/Belmont) notched four. Wheaton's provisional qualifiers await word on whether they will compete at the NCAA Division III Championship, which will take place on March 18-21 at the University of Minnesota.

On the opening day, Piscetta bettered her own school mark in the 200-yard individual medley, set the NEWMAC open and championship record, and reached a B cut for the NCAA Championship. Piscetta also swam the fastest 50-yard butterfly in program history during the opening leg of the 200 IM trials. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Piscetta, Zais and sophomores Samantha Farrell (Reading, MA/Reading Memorial) and Stephany Perkins (Monmouth, ME/Monmouth Academy) were victorious and broke the school record while recording an NCAA meet B cut and establishing NEWMAC open and championship marks. Perkins, Piscetta, Zais and junior Iris Meehan (Bar Harbor, ME/Mount Desert Island) combined to take second in the 400-yard medley relay, clocking in with a school record and B cut. While swimming the event's opening leg for Wheaton's B team, senior Caitlin Glover (Durham, NH/Berwick Academy) broke a program mark in the 100-yard backstroke. Zais eclipsed a Wheaton mark in the 50 free, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship and taking second. During the 500 free, junior Sarah Houlihan (West Springfield, MA/West Springfield) surpassed a 10-year-old program mark, and freshman Julia Wright (Pomfret, VT/Northfield Mount Hermon School) broke a school record in the one-meter dive.

Zais took second in the 100-yard breaststroke on Saturday, as she bettered the school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship. In her opening 50 leg during the finals, Zais set another Wheaton record. Piscetta broke a school standard in the 100-yard butterfly while recording a B cut for the NCAA Championship. Wheaton's 800 free relay quartet of Glover, Houlihan, Piscetta and Zais shattering the school mark by nearly 19 seconds. During the opening 200 leg of the event, Piscetta broke a 10-year-old program record.

During the 100 free on the last day, Piscetta broke the school mark while earning a B cut and finishing second in the final. Zais shattered the Wheaton record in the 200 breast, with her B cut time during a second-place finals finish shaving nearly six seconds off the program standard. Glover, Perkins, Piscetta and Zais recorded a B cut in the 400 free relay while setting another school mark. Freshman Taryn Brosnan (Westford, MA/Academy of Notre Dame) bettered the program record in the 200 fly, and Houlihan broke a decade-old 1,000 free record during the 1,650 free race. Wright bettered an eight-year-old Wheaton standard in the three-meter dive, while Glover broke the school record in the 200 back during her final individual collegiate event.