INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS  |  OFFICIAL TEAM SCORES

DARTMOUTH, MASS. – The Keene State Owls continued its overall dominance at the 2017 Little East Conference Swimming and Diving Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Tripp Athletic Center as the Owls won their 11^th consecutive Little East Conference Championship, ending the day with a total score of 557 points.

Junior Hope Walsh (Hamden, Mass.) was back to her record-setting ways as she paced the Owls with four wins while breaking three LEC Championship records in the 1000-yard Free, 200-yard Free and the 500-yard Free. Walsh kicked off the individual events in dominating fashion by smashing the previous record in the 1000-yard Free by over 32 seconds and set the bar with a time of 10:20.93. Walsh quickly recovered and returned to the pool for the very next event, winning and setting a new LEC Championship record in the 200-yard Free with a final time of 1:55.43. Both records were previously held by Keene State’s Caity Shea from 2013 (1000-FR) and 2014 (200-FR).

Walsh finished up the Championships by breaking her own record in the 500-yard Free that she set previously last year with a final time of 5:10.22. Walsh won her fourth medal as the anchor of the 400-yard Free Relay (3:43.90) team with teammates Margaret Dean (Amherst, N.H.), Katie Brandeberry (Philipston, Mass.) and Rachel Mackinnon (Portland, Conn.).

A trio of Keene State freshmen highlighted the next three events with consecutive wins. Owls’ freshman Sydney McGough (Plainville, Conn.) narrowly edged out Eastern Connecticut’s Mollee Lasto (Orange, Conn.) to win the 100-yard Backstroke with a final time of 1:01.30 and freshman Olivia Pechulis (Bristol, Conn.) won the 100 Breaststroke with a final time of 1:11.48. Freshman Sophie Hayes (Ridgefield, Conn.) placed first in the 200-yard Butterfly with an official time of 2:12.64. Hayes would go on to sweep the butterfly events by winning the 100-yard Butterfly with a time of 59.17 seconds.  

Keene State’s Dean took home her first of two individual wins on Saturday afternoon as she finished ahead of the pack in the 50-yard Free with a time of 25.15 seconds, just short of the LEC Championship record. Dean also won the 100-yard Free as she touched the wall at 55:16 seconds. Junior Alexandra McCafferty (Chelmsford, Mass.) won the 200-yard Backstroke for the Owls with a time of 2:12.95

UMass Dartmouth earned four medals on the afternoon with senior Kendra Hebert (Lowell, Mass.) taking home first place in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter diving events for the second consecutive season. Hebert won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 233.95 and the 3-meter event with a score of 235.70. Westfield State’s Monique Groux (Agawam, Mass.) placed second in the 1-meter dive with a 220.40. Plymouth State’s Casey Allaire (Mattapoisett, Mass.) placed second in the 3-meter dive with a 206.10.

The Corsairs’ freshman Sarah Murphy (Braintree, Mass.) edged out the win in the 200-yard Breaststroke, defeating her competitors by a narrow margin of 0:00.22. Murphy also claimed the final individual event, winning the 400-yard Individual Medley with a final time of 4:50.15.

Eastern Connecticut State placed second overall in the 2017 championships with a team score of 288. UMass Dartmouth rounded out the top-3 with a score of 240. Westfield State placed fourth overall with 195 points and Western Connecticut State placed fifth with 123 team points. Rounding out the field, Plymouth State University tallied 76 team points and Rhode Island College earned 58 team points.

2017 LEC Swimming and Diving Overall Team Scores

1. Keene State College                557
2. Eastern Connecticut State      288
3. UMass Dartmouth                  240
4. Westfield State                      195
5. Western Connecticut State    123
6. Plymouth State University       76
7. Rhode Island College               58