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LANCASTER, PA -- The Washington College
Shorewomen finished in third place at the Centennial Conference
Championships held this weekend at Franklin & Marshall College.
Five school records, two meet records, and one conference record
were broken by WC swimmers at the meet, and the Shorewomen recorded
NCAA "B Cut" qualifying times in seven individual events
and two relays, their most "B Cut" times recorded at
one Centennial Championship meet. In all, the Shorewomen totaled
14 medals, including four golds.
The Shorewomen opened the meet Friday
with a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Junior Stacy
Sines (Wilmington, DE/Mt. Pleasant), sophomore Margaret
Klag (Silver Spring, MD/Sherwood), junior Sarah Cooper
(Wilmington, DE/Tatnall), and junior Pam Vasquez (Tegucigalpa,
Honduras/Delcampo Institute) completed the race in a school
record time of 1:42.36 and Sines broke the school's 50 freestyle
record with a 25.16 split time in the opening leg.
In the next event, Sines and Vasquez
captured the gold and bronze medals, respectively. Sines swam
a personal-best and "B Cut" time of 5:05.10 to win the
500 freestyle, while Vasquez came in third in 5:12.42. Washington's
next top-eight finish came in the 50 freestyle, where Klag finished
seventh in 25.63. Earlier in the day, she swam a season-best 25.51
in the preliminaries to secure a top-eight finish.
The Shorewomen ended Friday night with
a bang, edging out Gettysburg by .08 seconds to win the 400 medley
relay in 4:02.20. That NCAA "B Cut" time broke the school
record by more than four full seconds and also broke the conference
and meet records. Senior Vanessa Makarewicz (Manchester, CT/Manchester),
Klag, junior Julie Meirs (Cream Ridge, NJ/Peddie), and
Sines made up the team. Sines went head-to-head with fellow All-American
Heather Gallagher in the final leg and completed the leg
.05 seconds faster than her.
Washington's second relay team in the
400 medley won the "B" final. Junior Rebecca Sirman
(Westminster, MD/North Carroll), freshman Samantha Shaffer
(Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown), freshman Emily Rawson
(Derwood, MD/Richard Montgomery), and Vasquez completed the race
in 4:12.71, a time which would have placed them fifth in the "A'
final.
In Saturday night's first event, the
200 medley relay, Makarewicz, Klag, Meirs, and Sines captured
the bronze medal and shaved more than a second off of the school
record by completing the race in 1:52.30. The Shorewomen had a
top-eight finisher in the next event as Sirman placed seventh
in the 400 individual medley in 4:57.16.
WC then picked up a gold medal in the
100 butterfly as Meirs finished first in 1:00.30. Earlier in the
day, Meirs swam to an NCAA "B Cut" time of 1:00.26 in
the preliminaries. Rawson finished seventh in the same event in
1:02.06.
Saturday night's fourth event saw Sines
and Vasquez win gold and silver, respectively, in the 200 freestyle.
Sines took first in a meet-record NCAA "B Cut" time
of 1:54.24. The time was just .05 seconds off of being an "A
Cut" time. Vasquez finished second in 1:57.28.
The Shorewomen medaled for the third
straight event in the 100 breaststroke as Klag took silver with
an NCAA "B Cut" time of 1:08.23. Shaffer finished two
spots behind Klag in 1:10.25. The 100 backstroke was next and
Makarewicz swam a 1:03.10, her best time of the season, to capture
sixth place.
Washington closed out Saturday's competition
with a silver medal in the 800 freestyle relay. Vasquez, junior
Sara Hardy (Birchrunville, PA/Owen J. Roberts), Cooper,
and Sines completed the race in an NCAA "B Cut" time
of 7:56.42. The Shorewomen began the final leg of the relay five
seconds behind Swarthmore, but Sines narrowed the gap to less
than one second.
The first event on Sunday, the 1650
freestyle, became the third event of the weekend in which Vasquez
and Sines captured two of the three medals. Vasquez won the silver
with an NCAA "B Cut" time and season-best time of 17:48.93,
while Sines took the bronze medal in 18:04.32.
The Shorewomen picked up three more
medals later Sunday evening. In the 200 breaststroke, Klag broke
her own school record in the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA "B
Cut" time of 2:25.84, an effort which earned her a silver
medal. Shaffer won the bronze in 2:29.03.
Washington's final medal came in the
200 butterfly, where Meirs won the silver with an NCAA "B
Cut" time of 2:12.16. Rawson finished seventh in that event
in 2:18.75. The Shorewomen finished fifth in the meet's last event,
the 400 freestyle relay, as Klag, Cooper, Hardy, and Vasquez completed
the race in 3:47.31.
Swarthmore won the meet with 707 points,
followed by Gettysburg (604.5), the Shorewomen (542.5), Franklin
& Marshall (495). Dickinson (460), Western Maryland (295),
Bryn Mawr (258) and Ursinus (159).
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WC's Eight CC Medalists (Stacy Sines, Julie
Meirs, Margaret Klag, Pamela Vasquez, Samantha Shaffer, Vanessa
Makarewicz, Sarah Cooper, and Sara Hardy.)
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