By Maegan White
Elm Staff Writer
On Thursday, Feb. 16, the Shorewomen traveled to Gettysburg College to compete in the four-day Centennial Conference Championships.
Each day was made up of two sessions: preliminaries in the morning and two-heat finals in the evening. The top 16 in each event earned points for the team, with relays earning double points. The Shorewomen entered the meet ranked six of eight teams.
On the first day, the women’s team finished in fifth in the 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relay. The 200-yard freestyle B relay was composed of sophomores Lily Hartmann and Kylee Smith and juniors Anna Miller and Kennedy Jones. Smith, freshman Lauren Paules, sophomore Emily Iampieri, and junior Emma Shultz composed the A team.
The Shorewomen ended the first day in fifth place with 74 points.
Day two started off with Paules securing a spot in the A final for the 500-yard freestyle following an electric preliminary swim. She finished ranked eighth in the Conference for the event. Iampieri took fourth in the B final for the 50-yard freestyle after posting a best time in the morning session.
Iampieri, Smith, Miller, and Hartmann competed in the 400-yard medley relay and finished sixth in the A final with a time of 4:04.37.
Dickinson passed the Shorewomen at the end of day two, pushing the Shorewomen’s overall score to sixth place.
The Shorewomen started off day three with a fifth place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Miller, Paules, Shultz, and Iampieri made up the relay and they collectively finished with a time of 1:38.82.
Four Washington College swimmers made the B final for the 200-yard freestyle. Iampieri took ninth, Schultz took eleventh, Paules took twelfth, and senior Kristina Curley took sixteenth.
Smith and sophomore Ayana Davis each made the B finals for the 100 yard butterfly. Smith finished tenth and Davis finished thirteenth in the event. Miller also secured a spot in the B final for the 100-yard breaststroke and finished in sixteenth place.
The Shorewomen remained in sixth place but closed the gap between them and Dickinson going into the final day of competition.
On the final day of the Conference Championships, the Shorewomen had the most finalist swimmers of all other days. Paules started off the evening with a ninth place finish in the mile with a time of 18:15.39. Curley finished in twelfth place just 26 seconds behind Paules.
Hartmann and senior Alex May competed in the B final for the 200-yard backstroke and earned eleventh and sixteenth place finishes in their heat. In the 100-yard freestyle, Iampieri earned a spot in the A final while Jones earned a spot in the B final. Iampieri finished seventh in her heat, Jones in fifteenth.
Three Shoremen made it to the finals for the 200-yard butterfly. Smith took fifth while Davis and Sophomore Courtney Poetsch finished fourteenth and sixteenth in the event.
Smith, Schultz, Jones, and Iampieri ended the Conference Championships with a fifth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, recording a time of 4:03.37.
The Shorewomen finished sixth in the Conference with 279 points. Swarthmore College was named conference champions followed by Gettysburg College, Ursinus College, Franklin and Marshall College, and Dickinson College. Behind the Shorewomen were Bryn Mawr College and McDaniel College.
Iampeiri said that the team is incredibly proud of their season and already looking forward to continuing to develop for next season.
“We saw a lot of time drops and a lot of people placing higher than they were seeded,” Iampeiri said. “The energy was through the roof and I could not have asked for a better team this Championship.”
The Shorewomen celebrated ten new WC All-Time Top 10 times at the Conference Championships. Paules earned her first two top ranked times in the 500-yard and 200-yard freestyle. Iampieri improved her rankings in all three of her individual events. She now is ranked third in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle and seventh in the 200-yard freestyle.
Smith also improved her rankings in the 200 and 100-yard butterfly. Miller, Davis, and Shultz each improved their rankings in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, and 200-yard freestyle respectively.
“This season has been a great start to my first year of college. The season was definitely tough for many at some points, but it was worth it when it came to conferences,” Paules said.
The Shorewomen are the smallest team in the Conference and are composed of mostly underclassmen. Head Coach Phil Quick recognized the outstanding performances from the underclassmen, including freshman Paules, who earned Shorewomen of the Week, and sophomores Smith and Iampieri.
“The women’s team did exceptional in the face of one of the strongest [division three] swimming Conferences,” Quick said. “Since it is a young team, the freshman and sophomores stepped up into leadership roles, both time and morale-wise. While the challenges kept increasing, the women session after session improved their times and grit. An impressive feat at the end of a long season.”
Photo courtesy of WC Athletics
Photo Caption: Senior and captain Alexandra May competing in the 400 Individual Medley.