Cougars Shine In Mount Holyoke-Wheaton Meet

Worcester, Mass. – In one of the most competitive swimming and diving meets in recent memory, all three participating institutions – Clark University, Mount Holyoke College and Wheaton College – had teams pick up victories in Friday afternoon’s New England Women’s And Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) event.

The Clark women defeated Mount Holyoke, 124-119, but dropped a 135-106 decision to Wheaton. Mount Holyoke topped Wheaton 126-110 and then the Wheaton men came out on top over the Clark men’s, 138-99.

On the men’s side, Cougar senior Ryan Garr (North Kingstown R.I.) was the big winner, capturing victories in the 200-yard IM (2:02.94) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:57.98). He was also a part of the 400-yard medley relay (3:45.45) with Cooper Hart (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.), Clive Green (Portmore, Jamaica) and Tim Sistare (Westford, Mass.) that touched the wall first.

Green, meanwhile, also picked up wins in the 50-yard freestyle (22.61) and the 100-yard freestyle (50.49).

For Wheaton, Christian Woods (Claremont, Calif.) won two events, claiming wins in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:03.77) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:16.77).

Also, Charlie Maier (Sudbury, Mass.) swept the diving events for the Lyons, taking the 1-meter event with a score of 229.80 and the 3-meter with a 203.40 mark.

Nicholas Fredette (Stoneham, Mass.) claimed the individual crown in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.96) and Dominic Ziolek (Londonderry, N.H.) in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.85).

For the women, Eileen Garcia (New York, N.Y.) swept both the 1-meter (241.40) and the 3-meter (285.15) for the Cougars, who also got a pair of first-place finishes from Mollie Kleyboecker (Albuquerque, N.M.) in the 200-yard backstroke (2:15.16) and the 1000-yard freestyle (11:17.14).

In the Clark-Wheaton matchup, the meet was even at 93-93 with three events left – which the Lyons swept through, taking the 500-yard freestyle (5:40.07) behind Sarah Miller (Madison, N.J.), the 200-yard breaststroke (2:37.60) by Nina Lanctot (Chatham, Mass.) and the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:45.99) behind Dana Auger (Milford, Mass.), Callie Renfrew (Vacaville, Calif.), Elle Van Cott (Delmar, N.Y.) and Cara Morris (Irvington, N.Y.).

The tide changed in Mount Holyoke’s favor late in their matchup with Wheaton when Lauren Williams (Kingston, Jamaica) and Leah Townsend (Wakefield, Mass.) went 1-2 in the 200-yard backstroke.  Rachel Boynton (Northampton, Mass.) and Maya Lazarovich (South Burlington, Vt.) then pushed the Lyons to victory as they claimed wins in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke, respectively.

Clark will be back in action next Friday when they take part in the Worcester City Championships at Holy Cross, while Mount Holyoke visits Simmons College on Saturday and Wheaton hosts Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday as well.