COMPLETE RESULTS
MIDDLETOWN, CT -- The Ephwomen took on Wesleyan, WPI, and Tufts at Wesleyan today in their only quad meet of the season, beating all 3 teams (262-57 against Wesleyan, 259-60 against WPI, and 175.5-145.5 against Tufts). This extends their Division III Dual Meet winning streak, which began in 2008, to 122 wins. Coach Kuster said "I saw some really good swims today, and as is typically the case, plenty of areas where we will need to be better. Today was a very good win against some very good teams. If we want to get where we are hoping to be at the end of the year, we'll need a much more well-rounded whole team effort going forward."
Today, the Ephwomen won all four of the 50s, with Amanda Wager '23.5 taking the 50 breaststroke in 29.09, followed by Charlotte Wishnack '25 in 29.40 for second. Wishnack's swim was a personal time. Caitlin Murphy '24 took the 50 backstroke in 26.51, a new personal best. Maddy Wu '26 powered to the wall for second place in 27.17, and Bainon Hart '24 took 4th in 27.42, a new personal best. Aly Eward '26 also set a new best time of 28.36.
Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5 took the wins in the 50 butterfly and the 50 freestyle, with times of 24.70 and 23.59. Her time in the 50 butterfly reset the Wesleyan pool record she established at this meet last year. In the 50 butterfly, Emma Schulman '24 powered to a third place finish in 25.24 seconds, a new personal best by over half a second. Gabby Lopez-Ona '24 finished in fifth place with a speedy 25.97. In the 50 freestyle, Irene Yang '26 set a new personal best by 0.31 seconds to take fourth in 23.83 seconds.Â
The two distance events of the meet were the 500 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. In the 500 freestyle, Lily Codd '26 and Georgia Panitz '22.5 touched the wall at virtually the same time, finishing in second and third place, respectively, with times of 5:01.99 and 5:02.19. Frances Hayward '24 swam a well-executed 5:05.42 for fourth place. In the 400 IM, Sophia Verkleeren '25 swam an incredible race to notch a new best time by almost 7 seconds in 4:19.94, the second fastest time in Division III thus far this season. Irene Yang was back in the pool after her great sprint freestyle performance earlier in the meet, recording a new best time by over 2.5 seconds in 4:34.21 for third place. She was followed closely by Ruby Groves '26 who went 4:34.30 for fourth, just off her best time. Maddie Annis '23 swam her best in-season swim ever to touch the wall at 4:35.78 for sixth place.
On the diving side, Emma Casey '23 and Adelaide Herman '25 were challenged by some difficulties on the boards and by a long diving program, as the four competing teams compiled quite a large number of divers. Both Casey and Herman demonstrated extreme resilience. Herman tied for third on 1m with a score of 232.20 and Casey placed seventh with a score of 191.35. On 3m, Casey pulled out the win with a score of 240.50 and Herman placed fifth with a score of 198.20.
In the 100 breaststroke, the duo of Amanda Wager and Charlotte Wishnack did it again. Wager touched the wall in 1:02.65 and Wishnack followed shortly after in 1:03.33. Both were faster than they were at this meet last year. Wager's time is the fourth fastest in Division III this season, and Wishnack's swim is the ninth fastest. In the 100 butterfly, Samantha Kilcoyne powered to the wall in 54.58, good for the third fastest time in Division III this season. In the race, she was flanked by Emma Schulman and Gabby Lopez-Ona who went 56.38 and 56.73, respectively, for third and fourth.
The 100 backstroke featured Sophia Verkleeren swimming a 54.78, a swim not far off her best time and school record, and the fastest time in Division III this season by 0.01 seconds. Caitlin Murphy took second place with a breakthrough swim, her first best time in this event since 2017 as she went 56.87, just 0.05 off of the NCAA B standard. Maddy Wu took fourth in 59.18 and Bainon Hart was fifth in 59.52. Georgia Panitz fought hard in the last 100 of the meet, the 100 freestyle, to take third in 53.01. Irene Yang finished in fourth in 53.15, just over half a second off of her best time.Â
The individual portion of the meet concluded with the 200s of stroke. Amanda Wager and Charlotte Wishnack made it a 3-peat, touching the wall in a speedy 2:14.97 and 2:17.48. Wager's time is the second fastest in Division III thus far this season and Wishnack's is the 8th. Sarah Johnson '23.5 won a tight battle for sixth, touching the wall in 2:28.70.Â
Sophia Verkleeren was just off her best time to win the 200 backstroke in 1:58.40, the fastest time in Division III this season by almost a full second. Caitlin Murphy took fourth in a speedy 2:04.50 and Aly Eward used a fast first half of the race to power her fifth place finish of 2:07.80. Bainon Hart swam a well-executed race to take seventh in 2:08.38. Finally, the 200 fly featured a strong group of Ephwomen. Gabby Lopez-Ona took third in 2:05.56, Emma Schulman was fourth in 2:05.85, Lily Codd was fifth in 2:06.76, and Ruby Groves was sixth in 2:07.60.Â
Finally, the meet concluded with the 200 freestyle relay. The 'A' relay of Samantha Kilcoyne (23.56), Irene Yang (23.69), Georgia Panitz (24.04) and Sophia Verkleeren (23.82) took second place. The 'C' and 'B' relays were well matched, with the 'C' relay taking 7th in 1:39.29 and the 'B' relay taking 9th in 1:39.46.Â
The Ephwomen return to competition in the New Year, with their first meet being against Amherst, at Amherst, on January 7th, with the women beginning competition at 1pm.
