CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley College swimming and diving team took home third place at the 2012 NEWMAC Championships, capping an outstanding weekend for the Blue at the three-day event hosted by MIT. 

Day three featured more record-setting swims from the team, while sophomore Keelin Nave was crowned NEWMAC Champion in the 200-butterfly. Overall, Wellesley finished third with 430 points, moving up two spots from last year and marking the program's highest finish in five years. 

Highlighting the action, Nave won the 200-fly in a blistering time of 2:05.56. Her mark surpassed NCAA "B" cut standards, and broke her 2011 school record by over four seconds. The victory gave Nave the first NEWMAC title for the program since 2009 (Kate Sorenson - 1-meter diving, 3-meter diving) and the first title by a Blue swimmer since 2008 (Savanna Johnson - 50-free). 

Wellesley showed incredible depth on day three, as the Blue held 14 spots in either A or B finals on the last day of competition. In the 200-back, five Wellesley swimmers earned 48 total points, led by a third place finish from sophomore Emma Mrkonic. Her finals time of 2:07.03 broke an eight-year old school record by nearly three seconds (2:09.63 - Meredith Cowie - 2004). The Blue also had four swimmers in the B final of the event, with senior Stephanie Welch touching the wall first (9th overall in 2:11.89), followed quickly by first-year Veronica Lin (10th- 2:12.79), sophomore Gabriela Kovacikova (11th- 2:13.50) and senior Katherine Foley (15th- 2:16.20). 

The Blue also cleaned up in the 200-fly, led by Nave's victory. In the B final, first-year Grace Bachman took 11th overall in 2:17.02, followed by Kovacikova (14th- 2:18.51) and Foley (15th- 2:18.63). In the 200-back, Wellesley had two swimmers compete in the finals, with first-year Kendra Waters taking sixth overall in 2:30.77, while sophomore Anne Hamilton took 15th in 2:33.74. 

Wrapping up the individual swims on Sunday, sophomore Mariam Amirkhanashvili placed 12th overall in the 100-free in 54.57, while sophomore Lindsey Shepardson finished 20th (19:48.62) in the timed finals of the 1650-free. 

In the day's relay competition, Wellesley's entry placed third overall in the 400-free. Nave, first-year Monica Gates, Mrkonic and Amirkhanashvili combined for a time of 3:36.58.

At the diving end of the pool, Blue sophomore Hayley Goydan recorded another third place finish. Competing on the 3-meter board, she surpassed NCAA consideration standards with a score of 487.65. Goydan was surpassed by only only Clark's Eileen Garcia (524.95) and Springfield's Jennifer Thompson (506.10), both NCAA qualifiers last season.

MIT took home the team title for the second year in a row, compiling 960 points, while Springfield's 821.5 points ranked them second. Following Wellesley, Coast Guard took fourth (353.5), Wheaton was fifth (335.5), and Clark (274.5) was sixth. Rounding out the field were Babson (183), Smith (159), WPI (151) and Mount Holyoke (143).

Women's Team Scores

2012 NEWMAC Swimming & Diving All-Conference