WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College swimming & diving competed hard with Coast Guard Academy, narrowly falling 168-130 on Thursday night at Chandler Pool. The Blue (2-1) had the closest result that anyone has had with the Bears (7-0) so far this season.

Wellesley got in the win column early, with the top finish in the 200 Medley Relay. Junior Lily Fender (Burnsville, S.C.) and sophomores Lana Richard (Oakland, Calif.), Lucy Choe (Ellicott City, Md.) and Alexis Kung (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) were the first team to complete the event at 1:50.26. Sophomore Sophia Owen (Honolulu, Hawaii), first-year Mina Chung (Southborough, Mass.), senior Chelsea Park (Long Beach, Calif.) and first-year Natasha Ackerstein (Santa Cruz, Calif.) earned bronze with a 1:55.98 time.

Richard scored gold in the 100 Breaststroke, leading the second place performer by over three seconds with a 1:06.94 showing. Chung's 1:12.43 time nabbed fourth place. Richard was later the 200 Breaststroke champion with a 2:28.58 time. Chung was only one spot behind, helping score points with a time of 2:33.28. 

Kung was the top finisher in the 100 Back event, coming in at 58.90. Fender earned fourth place with a time of 1:01.13. In the 200 Back, Fender's time of 2:13.65 snagged bronze.

Richard wrapped up a big night with a second place 200 IM showing, putting together a 2:13.50 performance.

Junior Samara Burstein (New York, N.Y.) topped the 1-Meter Diving competition with a score of 235.70. First-year Katharine Tan (Wayland, Mass.) came in third with a season-best 206.90 while sophomore Vicki Huang (San Diego, Calif.) was fourth with a 172.90 score. Burstein repeated the first-place feat in 3-Meter Diving, only three points off of a PR with 246.00. Tan (186.95) and Huang (164.70) came in third and fourth respectively.

Choe added to the first place finishes in the 100 Fly, cracking the one-minute mark at 59.95. 

First-year Martina Dong (Beijing, China) was the 200 Free runner-up, hitting the wall at 2:00.58. Dong repeated the second place achievement in the 100 Free, this time completing the race at 56.34.

In the 50 Free, Ackerstein captured silver with a personal-best time of 25.39, a mere .2 seconds off of Coast Guard's top finisher.

Sophomore Hannah Machleidt (Middleton, Wis.) came in third place with a time of 11:14.52 in the 1000 Free. Machleidt later was fourth in the 500 Free race, clocking in at 5:29.22.

Wellesley's top time in the 200 Fly was first-year Sonia Hsieh Schumacher (Los Angeles, Calif.), who took fourth with a time of 2:17.76.

Ackerstein, Dong, Fender and Choe ended the night with a 1:43.07 in the 200 Free Relay, earning second in the process.

Next up, Wellesley will travel to Bowdoin on Saturday, November 21 to compete with the Polar Bears and MIT.