COMPLETE RESULTS
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. -- The Williams Women's Swim and Dive team took on Springfield to open the 2022-2023 season. They brought incredible energy to the meet which ended in a decisive victory over Springfield, 206 - 89. The Ephwomen won all 16 events - 14 of which were swimming and 2 of which were diving. Coach Steve Kuster shared his thoughts on the Women's Swim and Dive Team's performance this evening: "I liked what I saw from the women tonight. While we knew that lighting up the scoreboard with super fast times was going to be difficult, I liked the way they competed on the boards and off the blocks. The energy level was high and I liked that we got good contributions from a variety of people across different years."
The meet opened with the 400 medley relay, which featured some tight races. The A relay of Bainon Hart '24, Charlotte Wishnack '25, Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5, and Georgia Panitz '22.5 took the win, and they were followed closely by the two other relays of Ephwomen, who finished in 2nd and 4th, respectively. Wishnack had a particularly notable breaststroke split of 1:06.96, out-splitting the next fastest in the field by 1.5 seconds.
Williams distance freestyle dominated the 1000 freestyle, sweeping the top 3 places. Lily Codd '26 and Gracie O'Connell '26 had excellent swims for their first races ever representing Williams, with Codd taking the top spot in an incredibly consistent 10:32.80. Frances Hayward '24 pulled out second place with 10:49.75.
In both of the mid-distance freestyle races, the Ephwomen had incredible swims. Emma Schulman '24 just edged out Panitz for the win in the 500 freestyle, 5:11.09 to 5:11.29. In the 200 freestyle, Sophia Verkleeren '24 roared to the finish with a fast 1:55:31.
Caitlin Murphy '24 dipped under 1:00 in the 100 backstroke for the win in 59.18, followed by Maddy Wu '26 and Zora Vujovic '25 in 2nd and 3rd. In the 200 backstroke, the first years put on a show, with Codd taking the win in 2:09.42 and Aly Eward '26 coming in second.
The butterflyers had some fantastic races today. Amy Zhao '25 battled it out with O'Connell, ultimately taking the win in 58.30. In the 200, the trio of Schulman, Gabby Lopez-Ona '24, and Ruby Groves '26 were all very poised as they swept the top three spots.
On the diving side, both Adelaide Herman '25 and Emma Casey '23 did phenomenally. Herman won 3 meter with a final score of 250.65, followed closely by Casey in second place. Herman executed her inward 2 ½ particularly well. On 1 meter, they switched places, with Casey winning with a final score of 253.51, and Herman taking second. This is Casey's return to competition, as she was unable to compete last year, and she certainly started off on the right foot.
On the breaststroke front, Rika Yahashiri '25 brought home the win in the 100 in 1:09.27, while Amanda Wager led the charge in the 200 in an incredible 2:19.72. Verklereen also had a stellar race in an event she does not normally swim, going a best time in 2:26.47.
Kilcoyne won both sprint freestyle events in 24.26 and 52.98. Irene Yang '26 joined her in the 100 freestyle, taking the race out very fast, and went on to have an incredible 200 IM later in the meet to take the win in 2:11.08. Groves took home second in 2:13.26.
The Ephwomen closed the meet with some very competitive 400 freestyle relays, including fantastic splits by Wu (55.48), Verkleeren (53.36), Kilcoyne (52.46) and lead-offs by Codd (55.13) and Wishnack (55.44).
The Williams Women's Swim and Dive team returns to competition with their first home meet on December 3rd at 1pm against Union.
