For Immediate Release
January 25, 2009
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Wins 2009 Seven Sisters Swimming and Diving Championship
Blue Claim 12th-Straight Title
Complete Results
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Wellesley College claimed the 2009 Seven Sisters Swimming & Diving Championships on Sunday afternoon at Vassar College's Kresge Pool. The depth of the '09 Blue gave the program its 12th-straight title with 1069.5 total team points.
Vassar took second at the event with 980 points, followed by Smith (665), Mount Holyoke (521.5) and Bryn Mawr (207).
Leading the way for Wellesley were All-Seven Sisters honorees, Dana Dutton (Anacortes, WA), Kate Sorenson (Bolton, MA), Emilie Mitten (Norwalk, CT), Laura Weir (Narberth, PA) and Stephanie Welch (Dedham, MA).
Dutton earned All-Seven Sisters titles in the 50-free, the 100-free and as part of the winning 800-free relay team. She swam a 26.23 to win the 50-free and in a first-place finish in the 100-free, her time of 56.44 was .42 seconds faster than her seed time. In the 800-free relay, Dutton and teammates, Mitten, Weir and Welch combined for a first-place finish in a time of 8:31.02.
In the diving events, Sorenson was a double winner, setting a school record in the 1-meter and also winning the 3-meter. Her score of 474.00 broke her own school record on the 1-meter board and bested her nearest competitor by 91 points. In the 3-meter event, Sorenson won with a 503.15, over 100 points better than the second place finisher. Both of her scores hit NCAA qualifying standards.
Showing the depth of the Wellesley team, Blue athletes took top-three spots in 17 of the 20 events at the championship. Aside from wins from Dutton, Sorenson and the 800-free team, Wellesley also got second or third-place finishes from the 200 and 400 free relay teams, both of the medley relay teams (200-, 400-), Allie Williams (River Forest, IL), Melanie Kaplan (La Jolla, CA), Stepheny Xiang (Wellesley, MA) and Sabrina Maisel (Los Altos, CA).
In the 200-free relay, Wellesley took third place with the team of Whitney Smith (Detroit, MI), Erika Buckle (Boxborough, MA), Mitten and Katie Guynn (Salem, VA) combining for a time of 1:47.68. The 400-free team, consisting of Smith, Weir, Xiang and Dutton also placed third swimming a 3:54.87.
In the medley relays, the Blue took second in the 400-yard event in 4:24.79 and third in the 200-yard event in a time of 2:01.46. The 400 team was comprised of Xiang, Maisel, Olivia Hulme (Alma, MI) and Dutton while Elise Spedden (Clarksville, MD), Maisel, Hulme and Smith made up the 200 team.
Wellesley was also strong in the individual freestyle events. Dutton backed up her 50- and 100- wins with a second-place finish in the 500-free (5:26.81) while Mitten took third in the event in 5:34.33. Mitten also took second in the 1650-free in 19:16.89 and third in the 200-free in 2:05.20. Maisel was a third-place finisher in the 1650 in 19:49.93.
Other top finishes for Wellesley included Xiang who took third place in both the 200-back (2:18.40) and the 200-fly (2:25.05); Williams, who took third in the 100-back (1:05.16) and Maisel who closed out her first Seven Sisters with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:41.45.
Wellesley returns to the pool on Saturday, January 31 at 1:00pm hosting a dual meet against Mount Holyoke.