EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Swimming Team (2-0) opened the dual meet portion of its season Friday afternoon with a pair of dominating victories over Bridgewater College and King (Tenn.) University. The Wasps defeated the Eagles by a 164-41 score and topped the Lady Tornado of King by a 153-45 margin. Bridgewater claimed a 118-82 win over King in the third leg of the meet.
Emory & Henry won nine of the 11 events on the day, taking the top two spots in six races including a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-meter butterfly, the 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter breaststroke. The Wasps also broke three school records on the day.
E&H got the meet started with a 1-2 finish in the 200-meter medley relay. The team of sophomore Marina Moore (Thomasville, N.C.), sophomore Brianna Chessock (Winston-Salem, N.C.), junior Jessica Richardson (Vero Beach, Fla.) and senior Payton Shirey (Seaford, Del.) posted a time of 2:07.52 to beat the old record by .48 seconds.
In the 800-meter freestyle, senior Taylor Guardalabene (Charlotte, N.C.) went 10:25.09 to win the event with junior Jordan Greenburg (Cordova, Tenn.) coming in second. Sophomore Mackenzie Lingle (Roanoke, Va.) won the 200-meter freestyle in 2:17.53 and sophomore Holly Roth (Albuquerque, N.M.) was the runner-up.
The Wasps finished second and third in the 200-meter individual medley led by freshman Claire Goodrum (Versailles, Ky.) and Chessock. In the 50-meter freestyle, junior Michaela Nolte (Hillsborough, N.C.) was just edged out for first place by Nicole Maldonado of King, swimming a :27.97 to finish .02 seconds off of a new E&H record. Shirey and freshman Adaira Brewer (Raleigh, N.C.) were close behind in third and fourth.
Lingle made it two wins on the day with a time of 1:09.00 in the 100-meter butterfly. Senior Nicole Powell (Apex, N.C.) and Goodrum made it a clean sweep for Emory & Henry in the event.
Nolte got revenge in the 100-meter freestyle as she swam a 1:00.59, crushing the former E&H record by 1.16 seconds to edge Maldonado by just .02 seconds. Roth was third in the race for the Wasps.
In the 100-meter backstroke, Moore went 1:09.65 to post a new top time for the Wasps, winning the event. Freshman Lauren Belcher (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Greenburg gave E&H a 1-2-3 finish in the race.
Richardson won the 400-meter freestyle (4:51.98) while Guardalabene was third. The Wasps took the top three spots in the 100-meter breaststroke with Nolte grabbing her second win of the day in 1:19.13. Chessock and sophomore Kelsey Jones (Roanoke, Va.) rounded out the trio.
Emory & Henry finished competition in the 200-meter freestyle relay. Shirey, Richardson, Moore and Lingle posted a time of 1:56.87 to win the event by nearly four seconds. The Wasps' also finished third and fourth in the event.
Emory & Henry's next meet is on Saturday, November 14 at noon. The Wasps will host the Vixens of Sweet Briar College and the Valkyries of Converse College.
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-photo courtesy of Keith Lucas/SidelineMedia