LEXINGTON, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Swimming Team got the 2015-16 season started on Saturday afternoon at the ODAC Relays, hosted by Washington and Lee University. The Wasps finished second out of nine teams competing.
Though only three of the 10 events were NCAA sanctioned, the meet served as the unofficial kickoff for Old Dominion Athletic Conference swimming.
Emory & Henry picked up three event wins on the day and earned three more runner-up finishes. The Wasps won in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 3x50-yard butterfly and the 3x50-yard breaststroke.
In the 200-free relay, senior Payton Shirey (Seaford, Del.), junior Jessica Richardson (Vero Beach, Fla.), junior Michaela Nolte (Hillsborough, N.C.) and sophomore Mackenzie Lingle (Roanoke, Va.) broke the pool record, swimming a 1:40.37 to defeat Washington and Lee by .47 seconds.
Shirey, Nolte and Lingle combined for a 1:22.08 in the 3x50-fly, topping the Generals by .48 seconds. Nolte, sophomore Brianna Chessock (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and sophomore Kelsey Jones (Roanoke, Va.) went a 1:37.68 to win the event by over two seconds.
The Wasps' second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay was also faster than the W&L pool record, as Richardson, Nolte, Shirey and Lingle stopped the watches in 3:41.44.
The meet overall was a battle between Emory & Henry and Washington and Lee, with the Generals claiming first with 459 points. The Wasps were second with 358 points, 121 points clear of Randolph-Macon College in third place.
The Wasps will have their first official meet of the year on Friday, October 23 when they host the Eagles of Bridgewater College and the Tornado of King (Tenn.) University, in a double-dual format meet. The first race is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Keith Lucas/Sideline Media