Cougars Finish Sixth, Garcia Named Diver Of The Year ... Again

Northampton, Mass. - For the second straight year, junior Eileen Garcia (New York, N.Y.) swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events at the New England Women's And Men's Athletic (NEWMAC) women's swimming and diving championships this weekend as the Cougars turned in a sixth place finish over the three-day event.

After ten straight conference titles, Springfield was finally dethroned by MIT to capture the overall team crown with 917.5 points.

 Garcia, who won the 1-meter event on Friday, collected the three-meter title on Sunday with a pool and school record score of 531.65 points. With those performances, she was named NEWMAC Diver of the Year for the second consecutive season and earns first-team all-conference in each event.

Senior Liz Rosen (North Attleboro, Mass.) capped her career with a school record fifth place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:49.46.

Right on her tails in seventh place was sophomore Mollie Kleyboecker (Albuquerque, N.M.), who touched the wall at 17:59.49 - becoming just the second woman in school history to finish the race in less than 18 minutes. She also finished fifth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:09.95).

Kleyboecker and freshman Gabriela Jijon-Nemalceff (Quito, Ecuador) each reached the finals (top eight qualifiers) in three separate events – the first time that has happened at Clark in more than ten years.

At the conclusion of this evening's final session, Springfield's Kellie Pennington was honored with both the NEWMAC Swimmer of the Year and Rookie of the Year Awards. The first year won three individual events and also figured in on a pair of relay victories. In addition to shattering NEWMAC Championship and Open records in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races, she also hit NCAA "A" cuts in both events. Her third individual win came in the 100-yard butterfly. In the relays, she led Springfield to wins in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle races. Pennington also helped the Pride to second place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Final Team Standings
1. MIT – 917.5
2. Springfield College – 894.5
3. Coast Guard Academy – 446
4. Wheaton College – 359.5
5. Wellesley College – 340
6. Clark University – 299.5
7. WPI – 202
8. Smith College – 188
9. Babson College – 115
10. Mount Holyoke College – 113