By Evelyn Lucado
Elm Staff Writer
The Washington College women’s swim team won 13 out of 14 events at a tri-meet hosted by St. Mary’s College in non-conference women’s swimming action, with St. Mary’s 180-79 and Stevenson University 194-63.
This win follows an impressive start to the season for the Shorewomen, who took home wins at the season-opening Quad Meet Oct. 19 and the home opener Oct. 26.
“This is a hardworking group of women with drive and determination. We had an incoming class of 10 freshmen this year, which over doubled the size of our team from last year,” senior Kylee Smith said. “Obviously, more people are beneficial, but this group in particular is really talented and they put in the work day in and day out. They also keep a fabulous, supportive attitude, making training and competition fun while keeping the intensity.”
Smith triumphed in the 100 freestyle (54.87), the 100 butterfly (1:00.02), and the 200 butterfly (2:17.18) for two individual wins. Junior Lauren Paules took the win in three individual events, winning the 50-yard breaststroke (34.04), the 200 freestyle (2:01.79), and the 500 freestyle (5:29.34).
The freshmen Shorewomen also delivered an outstanding performance. Freshman Brooke Bailey won in two individual events: claiming the top time in the 50 backstroke (29.04) and 100 breaststroke (1:13.13). Freshman Kenzie Gorman took victory in the 50 freestyle (25.38) and 50 butterfly (26.68).
Fellow freshmen Julia Banker and Samantha Denlea each took home a win in an individual event, Banker in the 100 backstroke (1:04.17) and Denlea in the 1000 freestyle (11:30.89).
Alongside the individual events, the Shorewomen triumphed in two relay events. The 400 medley relay team including Bailey, Gorman, Smith, and freshman Anne Burrows won the relay in 4:11.28. The 400 freestyle relay team included Bailey, Paules, Gorman, and Smith who won the event in 3:43.11.
Resulting from this meet, the Shorewomen improved to 5-1 overall, as the St. Mary’s Seahawks fell to 3-3 overall and the Stevenson Mustangs dropped to 2-2.
Following this victory, the Shorewomen are looking forward to more road meets, where they hope to continue building on this success.
“As we look ahead with away meets every weekend, we are not letting up on training. We continue to push ourselves and use these meets to help us prepare for our mid-season meet and conferences at the end of the season. Our team is also great at bringing the energy to every meet and constantly cheering and uplifting each other,” Paules said
The Shorewomen will hit the pool again on Nov. 9 at Salisbury University.
Photo by Darius Kesey.
Photo Caption: WC women’s swimming off to a 5-1 start following Nov. 3 dual meet.