Wheaton women among top five at NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championship for third successive season

February 19, 2006

CAMBRIDGE, MA- For the third successive season, the Wheaton College women's swimming and diving team finished among the top five schools at a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship meet. The Lyons matched last year's program-best finish by taking fourth overall at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Zesiger Pool over the weekend. Tallying 400 points while shattering eight school records, Wheaton trailed defending champion Springfield College, runner-up MIT and third-place Wellesley College.

Wheaton opened the three-day meet with a strong Friday performance that included three school records and a fourth-place team finish among the 10-team field. Sophomore Abby Pratt (Melrose, MA/Melrose) played a part in two school marks, placing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle while swimming the first leg on the fourth-place 200-yard freestyle relay team. Pratt broke her Wheaton freshman record in the 50 free twice, including a 24.66 finish in the trials and a 24.59 result in the finals.

Pratt, senior Courtney Catalano (Westford, MA/Westford Academy), sophomore Meg Miller (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) and freshman Mandy Cumings (Zionsville, IN/Zionsville Community) sided for a school-record time of 1:40.79 in the 200-yard free, snapping last year's mark by 0.35 seconds. Cumings secured Wheaton's third school record in the 200-yard individual medley, breaking a time that stood for seven years in the school annals. She posted a trials time of 2:14.75 and later claimed sixth in the finals at 2:15.10.

Pratt again spearheaded Wheaton's efforts on Saturday, missing a NEWMAC All-Conference team mark by a single placement in the 100-yard butterfly while helping the Lyons keep their fourth-place team standing intact, as she set a school record in the event at 1:00.03. In addition to Pratt's finish, Wheaton's 800-yard freestyle relay team swam the fastest time in program history by four ticks, as Cumings joined senior Lauren Pcholinski (Old Saybrook, CT/Old Saybrook) and freshmen Caitlin Glover (Durham, NH/Berwick Academy) and Casey Shanley (Rumson, NJ/Suffield Academy) for a fifth-place result in 8:15.18.

Other top Saturday performances came from Glover in the 100-yard backstroke and Wheaton's 200-yard medley relay team. Both Glover and the Lyons' relay squad took fourth in their respective events, as Glover finished her race in 1:02.28 and then led the 200-yard medley team alongside Miller, Pratt and junior Cassie Bohn (Manhattan Beach, CA/Mira Costa) with a time of 1:54.70. Bohn also had a strong outing during the 100-yard breaststroke, where she was within 0.03 seconds of matching a seven-year-old school record.

Pratt was at it again in the meet's third day of competition, topping the entire field during the trials of the 100-yard freestyle while beating her own school mark in 54.00. In the finals, Pratt claimed the third-place spot in 54.21 and later helped the Lyons take fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a school-record time of 3:42.10. Pratt teamed up with Cumings, Glover and Miller, as Wheaton set program marks in all three freestyle relays over the weekend. Glover also set a new school standard in the 200-yard backstroke after placing sixth overall in 2:15.35.

Also highlighting the final night of competition was the 200-yard breaststroke event, where the Blue and White had four of its swimmers place in the top 15. Junior Kristen Behrens (Uxbridge, MA/Uxbridge), Bohn, junior Katie McNicholas (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxboro Regional) and freshman Kelly Grant (South Salem, NY/John Jay) finished eighth, ninth, 11th and 15th, respectively.

Following is a complete list of the top 16 individual and relay finishers for Wheaton over the three-day competition of the NEWMAC Championship:

Individual
Name Event Time Place
Abby Pratt 100 butterfly 1:00.03* 3rd
Abby Pratt 100 freestyle 54.21 3rd
Caitlin Glover 100 backstroke 1:02.28 4th
Abby Pratt 50 freestyle 24.59* 4th
Mandy Cumings 200 individual medley 2:15.10 6th
Caitlin Glover 200 backstroke 2:15.35* 6th
Mandy Cumings 400 individual medley 4:49.48 7th
Casey Shanley 1,650 freestyle 18:29.62 7th
Kristen Behrens 200 breaststroke 2:37.97 8th
Mandy Cumings 200 backstroke 2:18.08 8th
Ashley Jankowski 200 butterfly 2:22.71 8th
Casey Shanley 500 freestyle 5:23.03 8th
Cassie Bohn 100 breaststroke 1:12.48 9th
Cassie Bohn 200 breaststroke 2:35.49 9th
Ashley Jankowski 100 backstroke 1:05.06 10th
Meg Miller 50 freestyle 25.39 10th
Meg Miller 200 freestyle 2:02.09 10th
Katie McNicholas 200 breaststroke 2:38.90 11th
Kristen Behrens 100 breaststroke 1:13.37 12th
Katie McNicholas 400 individual medley 4:58.70 12th
Cassie Bohn 200 individual medley 2:20.00 13th
Meg Miller 100 freestyle 56.21 14th
Casey Shanley 200 freestyle 2:03.02 14th
Kelly Grant 200 breaststroke 2:41.91 15th
Courtney Catalano 100 butterfly 1:03.65 16th
Kelly Grant 100 breaststroke 1:15.45 16th
Lauren Pcholinski 1,650 freestyle 19:18.81 16th

Relay
Name Event Time Place
Glover, Bohn, Pratt, Miller 400 medley relay 4:10.39 3rd
Pratt, Catalano, Cumings, Miller 200 freestyle relay 1:40.79* 4th
Glover, Bohn, Pratt, Miller 200 medley relay 1:54.70 4th
Pratt, Cumings, Glover, Miller 400 freestyle relay 3:42.10* 4th
Shanley, Pcholinski, Glover, Cumings 800 freestyle relay 8:15.18* 5th
Burbank, Behrens, Catalano, Labranche 200 medley relay 1:59.31 13th
Cumings, Grant, Catalano, Pcholinski 400 medley relay 4:19.21 14th
Labranche, Jankowski, Pcholinski, McNicholas 200 freestyle relay 1:48.23 15th
Allinson, Behrens, McNicholas, Bohn 800 freestyle relay 8:32.90 15th
Jankowski, Pcholinski, Huntington, Catalano 400 freestyle relay 3:56.52 16th

* Denotes school record

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