Dartmouth, Mass.- Sophomore Hope Walsh (Hamden, Mass.) led the Keene State women's swimming and diving team to its tenth straight Little East Conference Championship on Saturday hosted by UMass Dartmouth at Tripp Athletics Center.
Walsh started off the day by dominating the 1,650 freestyle in 17:39.23, which was the fastest mile of her collegiate career, while breaking the UMASS-Dartmouth pool record. She then continued her success by winning the 200 backstroke in 2:11.93 and then setting a new LEC record in the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:11.60, a season best for her.
Senior Katherine Brady (Biddeford, ME) also had a breakout swim Saturday after finishing first in the 200 butterfly. Her time of 2:10.19 broke the LEC record and she was also victorious in the 100 butterfly, and finished third in the 200 IM (2:18.08) behind teammates Amber Long (Dover, NH) with 2:13.17 and Madison Sestak (Liverpool, NY) in 2:17.96.
Long and Sestak each added a pair of second-place finishes to their day as well. Sestak was the runner-up in the 100 (1:10.30) and 200 (2:30.82) breaststroke, while Long did the same in the 200 freestyle (1:58.11) and 200 butterfly (2:13.21).
Reigning LEC Swimmer of the Year Alison Bartlett (Stratham, NH) collected three individual wins of her own in the sprint freestyle events. She won the 50 (23.91), 100 (54.38) and 200 (1:57.80) freestyles.
Corrina Nickerson (Torrington, Conn.) took both of the breaststroke titles. This was Nickerson's fourth-straight LEC title in the 200 breaststroke, which makes her one of three swimmers in Keene State swimming & diving history to win four-straight LEC titles.
Senior Brianna Laliberte (Candia, NH) also had an impressive day for the Owls. She repeated as the 100 backstroke champion in 1:00.54. She also played a huge role on both relays as she teamed up with Nickerson, Long, and Bartlett to win the 200 medley in 1:49.79 and Sestak, Margaret Dean (Amherst, NH) and Olivia Gallugi (Reading, Mass.) to win the 400 free in 3:46.09. Keene won all 14 swimming events, once again, and took at least the first three spots seven times in the meet.
Coming in second in team points, five freshmen combined to lead the Eastern Connecticut Warriors in eight of 12 individual swimming events as they totaled 313 points. Eastern swimmers grabbed second place in both relays and in seven of 12 individual swimming events.
Rebecca Stewart (Niantic, Conn.) was second in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:43.30) and combined with Natalie Stepniewski (East Haven, Conn.), Jessica Charron (Baltic, Conn.) and Bridgett Furlong (Mansfield, Conn.) on the second-place 400 freestyle relay (3:55.17). Stepniewski also finished second in the 500 freestyle (5:27.73).
Mollee Lasto (Orange, Conn.), Amber Albe (Wallingford, Conn.), Hayley Mangan (Manchester, Conn.) and Danielle Souza (Mansfield, Mass.) teamed for second place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:59.03.
Stepniewski was Eastern's leader in the 200 freestyle (2:04.76) and 500 freestyle; Albe in the 100 (1:13.65) and 200 (2:38.21) breaststroke; Lasto in the 100 (1:02.87) and 200 (2:17.65) backstroke; Souza in the 50 (26.72) and 100 (58.33) freestyle; Carly Mangan (Manchester, Conn.) in the 100 butterfly (1:07.57), and Hayley Mangan in the 200 butterfly (2:38.80).
The Diving competition was swept by UMass Dartmouth junior Kendra Hebert (Lowell, Mass.), taking home the honors in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. She bested the field of four in the two events, scoring in a 219.45 in the 1-meter and 241.8 in the 3-meter to capture both titles.
TEAM RESULTS
SCHOOL POINTS
1.) Keene State 625.50
2.) Eastern Connecticut 313
3.) UMass Dartmouth 179.50
4.) Westfield State 141
5.) Plymouth State 116
6.) Rhode Island College 92
7.) Western Connecticut 48