Stony Brook Women’s Swimming and Diving completed its final race meet of the year, placing sixth in the ECAC Winter Championships over the weekend. Fairfield claimed the championship by earning 1,825 team points.
“This weekend was a good stepping stone for our team and program,” head coach Kerry Smith said in a press release. “There is a lot we learned about ourselves and I couldn’t be prouder of the group of women. There’s still more work to do before [the America East Championship meet but we are going in the right direction.”
Stony Brook finished with 463 points and bested 11 other teams for the position. Sophomore Sara Chin’s second-place performance in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke was the highlight for the Seawolves on Sunday, Dec. 2. She finished in 2:22.43 behind Fairfield’s Colleen Young, a Paralympian who was born with albinism and is legally blind.
Chin also finished in seventh in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.44 on Saturday, Dec. 1. She gained 51 total points for both races and earned two of the team’s individual top-10 finishes. Freshman Michelle Wootton also claimed one by touching the wall sixth in under 25 seconds in the women’s 50-yard freestyle Saturday morning.
Chin and Wootton also led their teammates during relays, combining for four top-10 finishes throughout the weekend. Both adamantly battled alongside freshman Gabrielle Matiszik and Haille Bogumil for sixth place in the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:48.62 on Friday, Nov. 30. Chin, Wootton and Matiszik teamed with freshman Yurika Tomita, finishing eighth in 3:59 in the 400-yard medley relay Saturday night.
The duo of freshman Valerie Reiter and junior Noelle Perrone finished 13th and 14th in the 1-meter dive on Friday, respectively. Both also earned 10th and 11th place, respectively, in the 3-meter dive the following day with 124 points each.
Although Stony Brook did not come away with a victory in the meet, they have still maintained a hot start to the 2018-19 season. The Seawolves have already won 13 races, including their first home victory in over five years.
Stony Brook looks forward to earning its second consecutive win at home when it hosts the Stony Brook Tri-Meet against Iona and Adelphi at University Pool on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 1 p.m.