News
Swimming & Diving 11th at New England Championship Meet
Date Posted: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Posting Categories: Athletics News;Swimming & Diving
February 23, 2009
Simmons Swimming & Diving finished out the weekend with an 11th place finish at the New England
Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, held at UMass Dartmouth’s Tripp Athletic Center
Natatorium February 20-22.
The Sharks fielded a team of thirteen athletes this year, up from nine qualifiers from Simmons in 2008.
“The team had fun at this meet—they really got fired up for their races,” said Head Coach
Mindy Williams. “We had a few tough losses during the dual meet season, two of those were against UMass
Dartmouth and Plymouth State, but this past weekend the Sharks were able to hold off both teams. The end of
the meet was emotional. These women have worked so hard since September and it showed!”
Place Points
School
1 899 Keene
State College
2 830 Bentley
University
3 514 Saint
Michael's College
4 512
Roger Williams University
5 486
Western Connecticut State Univ.
6 481
University of New England
7 468.50 Eastern Conn. State U.
8 434
Westfield State College
9 316.50 Gordon College Swim Team
10 297 Bridgewater
State College
11 251 Simmons
College
12 202 Umass
Dartmouth
13 189 Plymouth State
University
14 141 Assumption
College
15 130 Saint Joseph
College-CT
16 102 Western New
England College
17 99 St.
Joseph's College of Maine
18 62
Norwich
19 54
Colby-Sawyer College
20 37 Elms
College
21 20 Husson
University
22 9
Regis Swimming & Diving
Sunday Finals Recap
Junior Brittany Torelli (Waterbury, Conn.) and senior Erica
Boswell (Salem, Mass.) swam to second and fourth place finishes in the 100-yard Freestyle C final,
earning nine points for the Sharks. Torelli touched the wall in 58.33 and Boswell turned in a 59.21.
Senior captain Keri-Ann Arsenault (Chester, N.H.) powered her way to a fourth place finish
in the grueling 1,650-yard Freestyle, with a time of 18:50.85, earning 20 points. Sophomore Hannah
McQuillan (Florence, Mass.) swam to a third place finish in the C final in 20:00.77, taking four
points.
Torelli touched the wall first in the 200-yard Breaststroke C final, turning in a 2:42.31 and earning her
team seven points.
Junior Caitlin Urciuoli (Wethersfield, Conn.) grabbed ten points for her fifth place
finish in the B final, swimming her way to a 2:25.78, almost a second quicker than her prelim time. Senior
captain Julia Morrison (West Hartford, Conn.) snagged a fifth place finish in the C
final, earning two points with a time of 2:31.05.
Junior Amanda Dirksmeier (Marshfield, Mass.) earned 13 points representing Simmons
in the 3-meter springboard finals, diving her way to a score of 256.95.
The Simmons 400-yard Freestyle Relay team of Urciuoli, sophomore Chennelle
Jackson (Dorchester, Mass,), Boswell and Arsenault sliced almost four seconds from their prelim
time, placing first in the C final, good for 14 points. Jackson split a 59.06, 3.5 seconds faster than her
lifetime best. The Sharks finished in 3:54.30, only half a second from the Simmons school record.
CLICK
HERE for complete Sunday finals results.
Sunday Prelims Recap
In the 100-yard Freestyle, Torelli and Boswell qualified in 14th (58.45) and 17th (59.02) place,
respectively.
In the 50-yard Backstroke, senior Jenny
Erviti (Warwick, Mass.) finished a second faster than her seed time, but missed a trip to the
finals by just one spot, finishing in 19th place.
In the 200-yard Breaststroke, Torelli dove in for her second event of the morning, swimming to a 13th place
qualifying finish with a time of 2:42.08.
The 200-yard Butterfly was stacked with Simmons athletes. Urciuoli swam to a 12th place finish with a time of
2:26.86, and Morrison finished in 18th place with a time of 2:31.62, quicker than her seed time by almost a
full second. Both women qualified for finals.
In the 100-yard Individual Medley, three Sharks were unable to sprint to a qualifying finish. Boswell
bettered her seed time to swim a 1:08.98, finishing 19th; senior Julia
Herman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) knocked almost two seconds from her seed time, swimming to 21st in
1:09.94; freshman Stephanie Bitzas (Westfield, Mass.) had a fast swim too, touching the wall in
1:12.20 and finishing 33rd out of 40 competitors.
Two Simmons divers qualified for a trip to New England’s this year in the 3-meter springboard. Amanda
Dirksmeier qualified for Sunday’s finals with an 8th place prelim dive (256.95). Junior Heather
O’Connell (Longmeadow, Mass.) missed the cut by three spots, finishing 11th with a score of
242.55.
In the last prelim of the morning, the Simmons 400-yard Freestyle Relay team of Urciuoli, Jackson, Boswell
and Arsenault swam to a 13th place finish in 3:58.56, earning them a trip to the evening finals.
CLICK
HERE for complete Sunday prelim results.
Other Information
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