Manjikian, Scholand Lead SwimDive to Double Dual Sweep over Colby-Sawyer and Regis

NEW LONDON, N.H. – Junior diver Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) set a pool record and joined senior teammate Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) with a pair of wins to lead the Simmons University women’s swimming & diving team to victories over host Colby-Sawyer College (216-73) and Regis College (187-107) this afternoon in a double-dual meet at the Knight Natatorium in New London, N.H. The Sharks improve to 5-5 on the season, while Colby-Sawyer falls to 4-8, including a 146-117 loss to Regis. Regis is now 8-2 on the season.

Simmons placed first over both Colby-Saywer and Regis in 10 of 16 events.

Manjikian finished first on both diving boards, including a win on the three-meter board with a score of 221.50 points to establish a new pool record at the Knight Natatorium and lead a 1-2-3 sweep in the event for the Sharks. The junior tallied 217.20 points to earn victory on the one-meter board for Simmons. Sophomore Natalie Krieg (Cambridge, Mass.) placed second on the three-meter board with senior Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) finishing third. Senior Elisabeth McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.) finished second on the one-meter board for Regis with a mark of 207.30.

Scholand continued her dominance in the 1000-yard freestyle with an easy victory on a time of 11:00.08 to win the race by more than 84 seconds for the Sharks. She showed her prowess in a sprint as well with a triumph in the 100-yard freestyle with a 58:43 clip.

Senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.), sophomore Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass.) and Katelyn Quinlan (Haverhill, Mass.) all scored 13 points with a first and second place showing apiece on the day for Simmons. List won the 50-yard freestyle by just one one-hundreth of a second in the fiercest finish of the day, edging Colby-Sawyer junior Jinnae Jang (Fall River, Mass.) with a time of 26.31. List finished second overall in the 50-yard backstroke, earlier in the day, but her time of 30.61 was good enough to finish ahead of all Colby-Sawyer swimmers. Howard touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 2:06.91 and later placed second in the 100-yard backstroke, but also earned a win over Colby-Sawyer in the event with a time of 1:06.46. Quinlan swam the fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke by a tenth of a second with a time of 1:13.79 to out-touch Regis sophomore Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.). Quinlan also placed second overall in the 50-yard breaststroke, but was able to gain a win over Colby-Sawyer with a mark of 34.57.

Sophomore Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) racked up 15 points with first, second and fourth-place efforts for the Sharks. Singleton won the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:04.92 and placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:22.62 to top Regis. First year Eva Piernas (Hopkinton, N.H.) also picked up a win for Simmons, taking the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:42.61.

Scholand led off the winning 400-yard freestyle relay for the Sharks, followed by Howard, first year Kiera Bragdon (Haddam, Conn.) and junior Olivia Walz (Natick, Mass.) to combine on a time of 3:55.26. Scholand swam the leading backstroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay with Quinlan swimming the breaststroke followed by Piernas on the butterfly and List anchoring on the freestyle leg to compile a mark of 2:01.19 to place second overall in the meet’s opening event.

Simmons returns to the pool on Saturday, January 24 when it travels to South Hadley, Mass. to take on Mount Holyoke College at 12:00 p.m.