Lyon women down MIT for second straight year, sweep double-dual meet

December 8, 2007

NORTON, MA- For the second consecutive year, the Wheaton College women's swimming and diving team used a second-place finish in the final event to clinch a victory over Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the Lyons downed the nationally-ranked Engineers, 151-148 while also defeating Smith College, 196-102 during a double-dual meet on Saturday in Balfour Natatorium. The Lyon men fell against 14th-ranked MIT and now stand 2-5, while Wheaton's women are 6-2.

MIT's women, who are 19th in CollegeSwimming.com's national poll, are now 3-2 after also downing Smith, 205.5-92.5. The Pioneers are 3-3. The Engineer men remained perfect at 3-0 following a 224-48 victory against the Lyons. Saturday's competition was chosen as a Dual Meet of the Week by SwimmingWorldMagazine.com, one of 15 events from across the NCAA's three divisions that the Web site highlighted during the first semester.

Wheaton, which defeated MIT last season for the first time since 1993-94, extended its modest winning streak over the Engineers thanks to an important runner-up finish in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. With the Lyons holding a 147-135 edge heading into the race, they needed one of their quartets to place at least second, which is what senior Meg Miller (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury), sophomore Iris Meehan (Bar Harbor, ME/Mount Desert Island) and freshmen Dania Piscetta (Belmont, NH/Belmont) and Nicole Zais (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) did in a time of 3:43.46, coming within 0.07 seconds of MIT's winning foursome.

Senior Abby Pratt (Melrose, MA/Melrose) and sophomore Emily Sweatt (Portland, ME/Deering) paced the Lyons with a pair of individual victories apiece. Pratt won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races in 24.62 and 53.58, respectively, while Sweatt swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes in 1:09.96 and 2:31.96, respectively. The duo joined Zais and freshman Samantha Farrell (Reading, MA/Reading Memorial) on the winning 200-yard medley relay team, which clocked in at 1:52.78. During the opening leg, Pratt broke a school record by finishing the 50-yard backstroke in 28.31. Meehan rounded out her team's victories in the 200-yard backstroke at 2:14.87.

Another noteworthy feat was accomplished by Wheaton during a second-place finish, as Piscetta's time of 59.75 in the 100-yard butterfly was just 0.01 seconds shy of first place but broke a program record by 0.07 ticks. Pratt had held the former standard, set in February.

For the Lyon men, freshman Eddie Gillie (Haverhill, MA/Saint John's Prep) topped the 200-yard butterfly field in a time of 2:05.80. Wheaton also produced a pair of runner-up finishes, as senior Matt Jordan (Ellsworth, ME/Ellsworth) was 0.45 seconds short of first in the 100-yard freestyle, and classmate Matt Hurley (Belfast, ME/Belfast Area) came within 0.64 ticks of the winning time during the 200-yard backstroke.

Wheaton's teams are off until Saturday, January 12, when the squads travel to Wellesley College for a 1:00 p.m. meet. Both Lyon teams oppose Clark University and Vassar College, while the women's triple-dual meet also includes host Wellesley.

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