SPRINGFIELD, MASS. – After another undefeated season, lengthening their Division 3 dual meet win streak to 135, the Ephwomen are back to kick off the 2024-25 season to try and lengthen their streak at the Springfield and Wesleyan Tri-Meet.
The Williams A (
Sophia Verkleeren,
Charlotte Wishnack,
Irene Yang, and
Emma Dimter) and B (
Aly Eward,
Bernadette Ramoy,
Clare McDermott, and
Zora Vujovic) 400 medley relay kicked off the meet. Verkleeren and Eward started the relay off with an early 1-2 lead respectively with an electrifying 55.71 and 59.91. Wishnack and Ramoy swam the second leg and extended the lead even more followed by Yang and McDermott with the third leg of the relay. Finally, swimming the anchor leg, Dimter and Vujovic finished the job by getting 1st and 2nd with a split of 54.50 and 54.58 respectively.
Next, the distance duo of Junior
Lily Codd and first year
Kyla Kelley took on the longest event of the meet, the 1000 freestyle. Codd took and early lead and kept increasing her lead by the 50, winning the event in a 10:40.56. Kelley cruised her way in second all the way through her first collegiate race touching at a 11:00.92.
There were two heats for the rest of the individual events. The next event was the 200 freestyle. In the first heat,
Abi Greenberg and
Azmera Gebre dominated touching 1-2 in a 1:59.40 and a 2:00.83 respectively. In the second heat,
Carter Roebuck and
Isabel Espinosa also touched 1-2 in a 1:54.67 and 1:57.57 respectively.
In the first heat of the 100 backstroke,
Bernadette Ramoy crushed and took the heat win in a 1:01.41.
Clementine Robins and
Irene Yang took the second heat, touching 1-2 respectively in a 59.77 and 1:00.21.
Next was the 100 breaststroke and
Rika Yahashiri took the blocks for the first heat. She kept a steady lead and won the heat in a 1:10.68. In the second heat,
Sophia Verkleeren and
Charlotte Brawer took the blocks and touched 1-3 in a 1:05.00 and 1:11.22 respectively.
The junior pair of
Gracie O'Connell and
Ruby Groves took the second heat of the 200 butterfly. They kept a steady lead together, with Groves edging O'Connell by a few strokes in a 2:10.82. O'Connell touched second in a 2:15.79.
In the shortest event of the meet, the 50 freestyle,
Charlotte Wishnack and
Azmera Gebre took the first heat. Wishnack touched in a 25.68 and Gebre in a 26.03.
Clare McDermott and
Zora Vujovic swam in the second heat in a tight blazing finish. Vujovic touched second in a 25.15 and McDermott third in a 25.23.
The Ephwomen divers had a great showing at the first 1 meter diving competition of the season. Freshman
Lucy Savarese had a outstanding first meet with a stellar back 1.5 sommersault 1.5 twist. She ended up winning the 1m event. Sophomore
Ashley Loh and captain
Adelaide Herman both had clean back 1.5 pile and took second and fifth place.
Aly Eward and
Charlotte Brawer took the blocks in the first heat of the 100 freestyle. Eward absolutely dominated the field touching first a 55.50. Brawer touched third in a 57.12. In the second heat,
Emma Dimter and
Irene Yang competed in a tight race. With a quick back half, Dimter touched second in a 55.35. Yang touched second in a quick 56.62.
Gracie O'Connell was the lone wolf in the first heat of the 200 backstroke. She cruised to a first place finish in a 2:13.65. The second heat featured national runner up
Sophia Verkleeren and
Lily Codd. Sophia gapped an easy lead throughout the race and finished in a 2:01.93. Codd was right there and finished second in a 2:11.88.
Breaststroke specialist
Issy Hiller and versatile Ruby Grover's took the first heat of the 200 breaststroke. Hiller maintained a good lead at the start but Groves came with a quick back half to take the heat in a 2:32.07. Hiller was right behind in a 2:32.15. In the second heat, breaststrokers
Charlotte Wishnack blazed to the wall in a 2:23.26 and
Carter Roebuck finished second in a 2:25.60.
The distance trio of
Isabel Espinosa,
Kyla Kelley, and
Clementine Robins competed in the 500 freestyle. Espinosa took the first heat in an easy 5:17.52. In the second heat, Robins had a smooth race and won in a 5:15.09. Kelley took second in the second heat in a 5:25.58.
In the 100 butterfly,
Abi Greenberg won the first heat in a 59.63. In the second heat,
Brielle Gold and
Bernadette Ramoy touched 1-2 in a 58.97 and 1:00.85 respectively.
In the 3m diving event, captain
Adelaide Herman took first with a stellar reverse 2.5 tuck.
Lucy Savarese and
Ashley Loh took second and fourth respectively.
In the 200 individual medley,
Rika Yahashiri swam in the first heat touching second in a 2:26.93.
Issy Hiller and
Bernadette Ramoy took the blocks in the second heat touching first and third in a 2:10.59 and 2:20.90 respectively.
In the final event of the night, the Ephwomen conquered the 400 freestyle relay. In a tight race, the C relay of
Emma Dimter,
Gracie O'Connell,
Charlotte Brawer, and
Carter Roebuck touched second to the A relay of Springfield.
This was
Allie Clark's first official meet as interim head coach as head coach Steven Kuster is on sabbatical this semester. "It was a blast kicking off our competition season with the team today! We've been looking forward to competing for a while so it was fun to travel and watch the team come together and get after their dives and races. There were a lot of good things to come out of this meet and make me excited about the rest of our competitions this fall."
With a score of 197-96 against Springfield and 215-79 against Wesleyan, the Ephwomen extend their D3 meet win streak to 137. The Ephwomen will compete again next Saturday against WPI and Tufts at WPI.
