BARBOURVILLE, Ky. – The Emory & Henry College Women's Swimming Team got off to a strong start at the Union College Winter Invitational Friday. After nine events, the Wasps sit atop the eight-team field, winning five races in the opening day of competition.

E&H started the day off with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Payton Shirey (Seaford, Del.), sophomore Jessica Richardson (Vero Beach, Fla.), freshman Mackenzie Lingle (Roanoke, Va.) and sophomore Michaela Nolte (Hillsborough, N.C.) turned in a time of 1:37.57 for first place.

Sophomore Allison Fowler (Morristown, Tenn.) claimed a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a swim of 2:14.30 while junior Taylor Guardalabene (Charlotte, N.C.) was third in the 500-yard freestyle (5:14.85), just .70 seconds shy of a school record. Freshman Holly Roth (Albuquerque, N.M.) was third in the 500-free, swimming a 5:18.62.

Nolte earned Emory & Henry's first individual win of the meet in the 100-yard breaststroke, breaking her own school and ODAC record in 1:05.46. Freshmen Kelsey Jones (Roanoke, Va.) and Brianna Chessock (Winston-Salem, N.C.) were third (1:09.04) and eighth (1:14.07), respectively.

In the 200-yard backstroke, freshman Marina Moore (Thomasville, N.C.) won the race with a school-record swim of 2:07.77 while sophomore Jordan Greenburg (Cordova, Tenn.) was third in 2:10.60.

The Wasps placed four swimmers in the top eight in the 100-yard freestyle. Lingle was third as she swam a :53.48, while her preliminary swim of :53.17 was just .13 of a second from the E&H record. Richardson came in fifth (:54.41) while junior Sam Brown (Memphis, Tenn.) and Shirey finished seventh and eighth with times of :57.24 and :57.90, respectively.

Fowler earned the win in the 200-yard butterfly as Emory & Henry took the top three spots with a time of 2:11.12. Junior Nicole Powell (Apex, N.C.) was second (2:13.82) while Roth finished third (2:18.40).

In the 400-yard medley relay, the E&H team of Richardson, Nolte, Fowler and Lingle turned in a time of 3:58.12 to win the event.

The final event of the day was the 800-yard freestyle relay. Nolte led things off with a school-record swim of 1:54.45 on her 200-yard swim while the other three legs were made up of Fowler, Roth and Lingle. The quartet combined for a second-place finish in an Emory & Henry-best time of 7:48.56, shattering the previous record by over seven seconds.

As a team, Emory & Henry (142 points) holds a 34-point lead over second-place University of the Cumberlands after Day One. Host Union is third with 79 points while West Virginia University Tech is fourth with 44 points.

The Wasps will continue to compete in the Union Winter Invitational on Saturday with another full day of action.

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