December 9, 2002
Shorewomen Place 3rd at ECACs
Two Golds, B Cut, Meet Record for Vasquez

SEWELL, NJ - Despite traveling with only 12 swimmers and having no entrants in the diving events, the Washington College women's swim team finished third of 20 teams at this past weekend's ECAC Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, held at Gloucester County Institute of Technology.

Senior Pamela Vasquez (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Delcampo Institute) led the Shorewomen with two gold medals, an ECAC meet record, and an NCAA "B Cut" time. She won the 1650 freestyle for the fourth consecutive year in an ECAC record and NCAA "B Cut" time of 17:45.71. She also took first in the 500 freestyle in 5:16.65. Vasquez added a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle and a 10th-place finish in the 200 backstroke.

Vasquez's teammate and fellow senior, Stacy Sines (Wilmington, DE/Mt. Pleasant) completed an impressive one-two finish for the Shorewomen in the 500 freestyle. Sines finished just behind Vasquez in that event in 5:17.93. Sines captured a gold medal and swam to an NCAA "B Cut" time of 1:56.17 in the 200 freestyle. Sines also swam a lifetime-best time of 1:00.85 in the 100 butterfly, finishing ninth. She also placed ninth in the 100 freestyle in 56.20.

Senior Julie Meirs (Cream Ridge, NJ/Peddie) finished third in both butterfly events, swimming to an NCAA "B Cut" time in each of those races. Her time in the 100 butterfly was 59.74 and she touched the wall in the 200 butterfly in 2:10.8. Both of her times were WC season-bests.

Junior Margaret Klag (Silver Spring, MD/Sherwood) captured two silver medals at the meet, in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. She finished the 100 in 1:08.85 and the 200 in 2:29.93.

Sophomore Ana Prado (La Coruda, Spain/Tirso) swam a lifetime best in the 100 butterfly, finishing seventh in 1:00.44, just missing the NCAA "B Cut" time. In fact, Meirs, Prado, and Sines became WC's second- third- and fourth-fastest all time swimmers in the 100 butterfly at this weekend's meet. Prado also swam a lifetime best time in the 200 butterfly, finishing fourth in 2:14.01. She added a 1:03.1 performance in the 100 backstroke, finishing in seventh place and a season-best 2:19.77 in the 200 individual medley, finishing in ninth place.

Senior Rebecca Sirman (Westminster, MD/North Carroll) added important individual event points by finishing fifth in the 1650 freestyle, 13th in the 200 individual medley, and 14th in the 400 individual medley. Senior Sara Hardy (Birchrunville, PA/Owen J. Roberts) also added important individual event points by finishing 14th in the 500 freestyle and 15th in the 400 individual medley.

In relay events, the 400 medley team of Prado, Klag, Meirs, and Sines defended their gold medal title by finishing first place in an ECAC record time of 4:06.56. The same quartet finished third in the 200 medley relay in a season-best time of 1:54.99. The 800 freestyle relay team of Sines, Hardy, Sirman, and Vasquez placed third in 8:11.20.

Other personal season-best times were turned in by freshman Chrissy Romano (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) in the 100 and 200 backstrokes and the 500 freestyle, junior Carolyn Myers (Lititz, PA/Linden Hall School for Girls) in the 200 butterfly, freshman Ana Thomas (New Smyrna Beach, FL/Spruce Creek) in the 200 freestyle, and sophomore Emily Rawson (Derwood, MD/Montgomery) in the 1650 freestyle.

New York University won the meet with 588.5 points, followed by Rowan in second with 504.5, the Shorewomen with 4:25.5 in third, and SUNY-Geneseo in fourth with 4:03.5. Washington was the only team to place in the top four that did not have entrants in the diving events. The top 16 places in each event were awarded points. Some of the events featured as many as 60-100 competitors.

The Shorewomen will be in Florida for training from January 4th-11th. Their next meet will be at home against Centennial Conference foe Bryn Mawr on January 19th at 1:00 p.m.