Amherst Women's Swim Takes Second at NCAA Championships

March 11, 2007

The Amherst Women’s Swimming Team captured second place at the Division III National Championship meet in Houston March 8-10. The Lord Jeffs scored 320 points to finish behind Kenyon College but ahead of strong finishers in defending national champions Emory University (3rd) and Calvin College (4th). Over the course of the weekend, the women rewrote the Amherst record board with nine individual records and all five relay records.

The team got off to an impressive start Thursday March 8th on the first day of competition, taking the second place position which they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the weekend. The 200 Freestyle relay team of sophomore Mary Marvel (Williamsburg, MA), junior Lisa Pritchard (Saratoga Springs, NY), sophomore Erin Morrison (Old Greenwich, CT), and senior Piper Pettersen (Kirkland, WA) started the meet off on the right foot with a strong fifth place showing after setting an Amherst team record in the morning session with a time of 1:36.50. Sophomore Meaghan Stern (Albuquerque, NM) contributed the second of what would be four team records on the night in the following event with a 4:59.77 500 freestyle which was good enough for another fifth place finish. In the next event, Amherst truly displayed their strength with a duo of championship finalists in junior Brittany Sasser (Belmont, MA) and Pettersen. Sasser took home second place points for the Jeffs along with the third team record of the night and a time of 2:03.78 while Pettersen finished in eighth place. In the final individual swimming event of the night, Marvel was the lone Amherst point scorer with a sixteenth place finish. In the last swims of the evening, the relay squad of Sasser, Pettersen, Marvel, and Stern captured second place in a blistering team record time of 3:49.19. In addition, the unofficial results would have Sasser rebreaking her own team and national record in the 100 backstroke during her leadoff leg with a time of 55.13, although timing malfunctions may prevent this record from going in the books.

On the second night of competition, the Jeffs maintained their momentum with yet another impressive showing. The relay team of Sasser, Pettersen, Ramsey, and Stern got the session going with a second place showing and two team records. Sophomore Kara MacLaverty held it together in the 400 IM along with senior Jasmina Cheung-Lau with their twelfth and sixteenth place finishes respectively. MacLaverty also took home her first team record with her time of 4:34.08. In the next event, Pettersen took home eighth place after yet another team record with her morning swim before Stern put together an incredible third place showing in the competitive 200 freestyle event. Stern broke her own team record in the event twice during the day. After a 100 breaststroke event with no Amherst competitors, Sasser continued her remarkable run of success with a dominant win and national record time in the 100 backstroke. Sasser broke her own record in the morning session by less than a tenth before shattering the mark that night with a time of 54.72. Lisa Pritchard also contributed valuable points in the event with her eleventh place finish. In the final event of the evening, the 800 freestyle relay team of Ramsey, Sasser, sophomore Alex Lee (Piedmont, CA), and Stern delivered a most impressive win and set a national record by just under four seconds to maintain their second place position heading into the final day of competition

The Amherst Women’s swimming team held strong on the final night of competition, outlasting a strong push for second place by the Emory Owls squad which won the meet each of the last two years. After the Jeffs missed junior Julie Kim (Montville, NJ), who was unable to attend the meet due to injury, in the 1650 freestyle, Sasser put the team back on the right track with a dominant win in the 200 backstroke. Sasser’s preliminary swim smashed her own national record which she set just a few weeks earlier at NESCAC championships, and the win continued her incredible run of undefeated backstroke events throughout her entire college career. MacLaverty also contributed important points in the event with a fourteenth place finish. Stern continued her strong weekend of performances with a seventh place finish in the 100 freestyle and her third individual team record of the meet, while Marvel put in another sixteenth place finish. Pettersen and Cheung-Lau each completed the final individual events of their Amherst swimming careers with matching 15th place finishes in the 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly respectively. In the final event of the meet, the relay squad of Sasser, Morrison, Pettersen, and Stern captured fourth place to clinch a second place finish overall in the meet with yet another team record.

Brittany Sasser was named Swimmer of the Meet after winning two of her events with national record times as well as contributing to a national record in the 800 freestyle relay. Coach Nick Nichols was named Coach of the Meet for the second year in a row after the improvement from fourth to second place. The meet concludes the season for the women’s team after an undefeated 8-0 dual meet record, a second place finish at NESCAC championships, and now a second place finish at National Championships. The Men’s swimming and diving team returns to action for their National Championship meet March 15-17 in Houston.

FULL TEAM RESULTS