WELLESLEY - The Smith College swimming and diving team placed second at the Wellesley Invite this weekend. The host Blue finished first with 1245.5 points followed by the Bears in second (1035.5), Mount Holyoke in third (724.5), Westfield St. in fourth (460) and Simmons in fifth place (267.5). Senior diver Katherine Welsh (St. Paul, MN/Saint Paul Academy) swept both diving events, while teammate Miranda Strunk (Lowell, MA/Lowell) earned NCAA qualifying scores each day. 

Swimming Highlights

• Maggie Cline (Santee, CA/West Hills) made her collegiate debut in the 500-yard free and placed second in 5:25.56 followed by Grace Magee (Portland, OR/Oregon Episcopal) (3rd), Carla Zeppettella (Centerville, OH/Centerville) (4th), and Cady Dorrian (Jacksonville, FL/Douglas Anderson School of the Arts) (5th)
• In the 200 IM, Jessie Wang (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) made their season debut and touched the wall second in 2:14.57
• The 400-yard medley relay team of Abby Caputo, Emma Schultz (Hyattsville, MD/Elizabeth Seton), Wang and Madeleine Lucas (Salem, MA/Salem) recorded the second fastest time in program history in 4:04.84
• Wang, Caputo, and Lola Errera (Dallas, TX/Adams) all finished in the top-five in the 100 fly
• The 800-yard freestyle group of Wang, Cline, Schultz, and Lucas earned a runner-up time of 8:05.47 which is the fourth fastest mark in program history. 
• Magee earned a season-best time in the 1650 free (18:43.94)
• Wang dominated the 200 fly with a 13 second victory in 2:08.11 followed by Errera who earned a lifetime best and second place finish in 2:21.01
• Susannah Winfield (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora), Zoe Chapin (Camas, WA/Camas), Cline, and Lucas closed out competition with a second place finish in the 400 free relay (3:49.11)

"I am super pleased with the team's performance at this meet, said head coach Caleb Potvin. We've gained a lot of valuable information that will influence our training in the coming weeks as we prepare for a lot of tough competition in the weeks to come leading up to the conference championship. More so than the performances, I was impressed and proud of the team's grit. We've talked recently about raising our standard, and how that standard can't change regardless of circumstances. The team maintained focus, discipline, passion, support and positive energy for one another throughout the weekend. That will be critical for us to continue these final weeks to give this season the ending that it deserves!"

Diving Highlights

• Welsh won the 1-meter with a score of 438.65 and the 3-meter with 434.60 points
• Strunk had her best performance of the season with a third place score of 407.70 on the 3-meter and second place mark of 417.5 points on the 1-meter.

"I am very pleased with my performances and those of my teammates, said diver Miranda Strunk (Lowell, MA/Lowell). I felt that both one and three meter events went well, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had achieved qualifying scores on both. My fellow divers both had awesome meets, adding some new dives and improving old ones. The swimmers also did great, achieving some season and lifetime bests. Going forward, I am excited to continue improving my dies to hopefully meet the qualifying scores once more so that I may compete at the NCAA regional championships!"

Up Next
Smith hosts Springfield and Wellesley next Saturday, January 24 at 12:00pm.

About Smith Athletics: Smith College is a NCAA Division III member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference that sponsors 11 intercollegiate sports. For more information log onto GoSmithBears.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.