WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College swimming & diving dropped a 161-133 final to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) rival Wheaton College in Wellesley's 2022-23 season opener on Saturday at Chandler Pool.
Wellesley (0-1 overall) opened the meet with victories in 1-meter diving and the 200 yard medley relay but Wheaton (3-0 overall) had a 86-61 advantage at the midpoint of the meet before going on to earn the victory.
Blue first year Elsa Marsden (Vienna, Va.) finished with a score of 237.00 to win on the 1-meter board in her first collegiate event. The Blue's top 200-medley relay team of first years Tracey Liu (Princeton, N.J.), Kavita Sekhon (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Aubrey Cantrell (Palo Alto, Calif.) and junior Ariana Mitsuoka (Centennial, Co.) followed with a time of 1:46.90 to win the first swimming event. However, Wheaton finished second and third before going on to take victories in the 1000 Yard Freestyle, 200 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard Backstroke to build an early lead.
Sekhon also earned a victory in the 100 Yard Breaststroke in 1:06.15, besting Wheaton senior Madeline Eller (Lake Oswego, Ore.) who finished in a close second with a time of 1:06.77. Blue sophomore Cecilia Cai (Palo Alto, Calif.) followed with a victory in the 200 Yard Butterfly with a time of 2:10.00. Wheaton capped the first half of the meet with a narrow win in the 50 Yard Freestyle, where Wheaton senior Hope Campbell (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) out-touched Mitsuoka with a time of 25.00. Mitsuoka was second for Wellesley in 25.08.
In 3-meter diving, Marsden won for the Blue with a score of 204.10 while senior Lily Duff (Scituate, Mass.) picked up third place with a score of 194.05. First year Elle Feneide (Longmont, Colo.) won the 100 Yard Freestyle race for the Lyons, who took the top three spots. The Lyons took another win in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a top time of 2:07.57 from sophomore Reese Hartman (East Grand Rapids, Mich.). Liu took second for the Blue with a time of 2:13.84.
Sekhon won the 200 Yard Breaststroke race for the Blue with a winning time of 2:27.30, just .12 seconds ahead of Wheaton's Brooke Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine). Wheaton took the top four spots in the 500 Yard Freestyle, with senior Emily Edds (Orcutt, Calif.) leading the Lyons with a time of 5:22.04. The Lyons also won the 100 Yard Butterfly race, with Wheaton sophomore Katie Walz (Bellevue, Wash.) just outstretching Wellesley sophomore Angela Zhu (Bayside, N.Y.).
Wellesley won the penultimate event, with Cantrell winning the 200 Yard IM with a time of 2:14.17, a second ahead of Wheaton junior Lily Watson (Waterford, Conn.). In the final event of the day Wellesley's team of junior McKaela Glanville (Menlo Park, Calif.), Cai, Sekhon, and Mitsuoka won the 400 Yard Freestyle race with a time of 3:42.65 to close out the day.
The Blue return to action next Friday with a 6:00 PM meet at Simmons. Wheaton will host Gordon and Bridgewater State next Saturday at 12:00 PM.
