Cambridge, MA – Williams Women's Swim and Dive traveled to MIT today to take on #5 MIT and #4 NYU. They came away from the meet with two wins, 170-130 over NYU and 172.5-127.5 over MIT. These wins brought their Division III dual meet win streak, which began in 2008, to 133 wins. Coach Steve Kuster had the following to say about the Ephwomen's performance today: "It was good to compete against two of the best teams in the country and to come away with two wins. There were some great performances and areas we showed our strengths and of course areas that we have to keep working on."
The meet opened with the 400 medley relay. Williams took the win by just over a second, holding off a fast-charging MIT. Sophia Verkleeren '25 (55.11), Amanda Wager '23.5 (1:05.22), Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5 (55.65), and Emma Dimter '27 (52.47) combined for a time of 3:48.45. The team of Irene Yang '26 (59.14), Charlotte Wishnack '25 (1:05.29), Emma Schulman '24 (57.05), and Zora Vujovic '25 (54.68) combined for a time of 3:56.16, placing 4th behind Williams, MIT, and NYU's 'A' teams.
The first individual event of the meet was the 1650 freestyle. Lily Codd '26 swam an incredibly consistent race to take the win by almost 20 seconds, posting a final time of 17:11.63. This was almost 12 seconds faster than she swam at this meet last year. Frances Hayward '24 touched the wall in third place with a time of 17:34.19. This was 3 seconds then she swam at this meet last year. Codd and Hayward were back at it in the 500 freestyle later on in the meet. Hayward took the win this time, swimming a 5:04.23 to just out-touch an NYU competitor by 0.38 seconds. Hayward's final 100 was a speedy 59.57. Codd was not far behind, taking third place in 5:05.16. They were also joined by Clementine Robins '27, who took fifth place, with an NYU competitor finishing between her and Hayward. Robins swam a 5:09.58.
In the 200 freestyle, the trio of Carter Roebuck '27 (1:56.07), Clementine Robins '27 (1:56.08), and Emma Schulman '24 (1:56.14) were very tightly bunched together as they took third, fourth, and fifth place behind two very fast swims by one MIT competitor and one NYU competitor. Roebuck took the race out slightly faster than Robins and Schulman, but the training partners were all dead even coming into the final wall.
To kick off the races of stroke for the meet, Sophia Verkleeren '25 dominated the 100 backstroke, swimming a very impressive 55.24 to touch the wall first. Irene Yang '26 took seventh in a tightly packed race with a time of 58.85. In the next event, the 100 breaststroke, Amanda Wager '23.5 out-touched a former 100 breaststroke NCAA champion to take the win in 1:05.29. Charlotte Wishnack '25 powered to a third place finish in 1:06.07. Brielle Gold '27 touched in seventh place with 1:07.24.
The final two individual events before the first break were the 200 butterfly and the 50 freestyle. Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5 was Williams' highest placing finisher in the 200 butterfly with her time of 2:06.45 as she touched the wall in second. Ruby Groves '26 swam a 2:10.81 for fourth place and Gracie O'Connell '26 took sixth in 2:11.12. In the 50 freestyle, Emma Dimter '27 tied with a MIT swimmer for second place in a time of 24.27. Zora Vujovic '25 powered to the wall in 24.53 for fifth place.
On the boards, Adelaide Herman '25 and Ashley Loh '27 performed well today as they faced fierce competition from both MIT and NYU. On 1m, Herman took seventh place with a final score of 229.80 while Loh took eleventh place with a final score of 210.35. On 3m, they both dove extremely well. Herman clinched third place, behind one diver from MIT and one diver from NYU. Her final score of 283.10 met the NCAA Regionals qualifying standard. A diver must qualify and attend NCAA Regionals for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships. They must hit the qualifying score on one of the boards twice throughout the season in order to qualify for Regionals. Herman met the qualifying standard once earlier this season on 1m, so if she is able to hit the qualifying standard again, either on 1m or 3m, she will qualify for NCAA Regionals. On 3m, Loh took seventh place with a final score of 241.70, a new PR. She also competed 303B (on 3m) for the first time today.
The first swimming event after the first break was the 100 freestyle. Emma Dimter '27 was back in the water for the Ephs, taking third place with a closely split 52.96 (26.00/26.96). She was followed by Zora Vujovic '25 who touched the wall in 53.43 for fourth place. Next, Sophia Verkleeren '25 took her second individual win of the day in the 200 backstroke, winning by 5.5 seconds in a time of 2:00.83. Irene Yang '26 finished in fourth behind two MIT swimmers with a time of 2:07.41, her second fastest swim ever. Alden White '27 swam a 2:09.06 for eighth place.
Amanda Wager '23.5 won the 200 breaststroke by just over three seconds with a time of 2:19.00. Charlotte Wishnack '25 was not far behind the second place finisher with her time of 2:22.82. Next, Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5 won the final event before the second break in the meet, the 100 butterfly, in a time of 55.54. In fourth place was Emma Schulman '24, just 0.01 seconds behind the third place finisher. She touched the wall at 57.46. Brielle Gold '27 stopped the clock at 58.91, powered by a fast first 50 of 27.24, for eighth place.Â
The final individual event of the meet was the 400 IM, which was won easily (by almost nine seconds) by Sophia Verkleeren '25, making it her third win of the meet. She stopped the clock at 4:21.79. Lily Codd '26 made it a 1-2 punch for the Ephwomen as she went a time of 4:30.48, 3.5 seconds ahead of the third place finisher. This ended a tremendous day of racing for Codd, as she swam the 1650 freestyle, 500 freestyle, and 400 IM. Lillian Bushway '24 took eighth place for the Ephwomen with her time of 4:38.45.
The meet concluded with the 200 freestyle relay. It was a tightly packed race, with the top three teams finishing within 0.24 seconds of each other. The Ephwomen ultimately came out on top. Emma Dimter '27 (24.23), Irene Yang '26 (24.08), Zora Vujovic '25 (24.18), and Samantha Kilcoyne '23.5 (23.63) combined for a time of 1:36.12. The team of Emma Schulman '24 (25.34), Carter Roebuck '27 (24.56), Gabby Lopez-Ona '24 (25.27), and Liz Ramoy '25 (24.45) combined for a time of 1:39.62 for fifth place, finishing behind Williams, MIT, and NYU's 'A' relay teams and MIT's 'B' relay team. They were followed closely by another team of Williams swimmers in 1:40.07: Amy Zhao '25 (25.47), Caterina Li '26 (24.75), Rika Yahashiri '25 (24.96), and Brielle Gold '27 (24.89).
The Ephwomen return to competition tomorrow when they take on NESCAC competitors Hamilton College and Middlebury College in Clinton, NY at 1pm. This meet will conclude their dual meet season.
