NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Freshmen Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) tallied 13 points and Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) scored 12 to lead the Simmons College women's swimming & diving team over host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 140-94, this evening in North Dartmouth, Mass. The Sharks improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Corsairs fall to 2-4.
Giraldi won the 200-yard breaststroke for Simmons with a time of 2:43.20 to edge UMass Dartmouth freshman Chrissy Deveaux (North Andover, Mass.) by just four tenths of a second. Giraldi also added a second-place finish in the 100-freestyle with a mark of 1:00.23 behind teammate Shylee Stewart (Eastham, Mass.), who registered a time of 58.40 to win the race for the Sharks. Morris took the 200-butterfly with a time of 2:22.99 to lead a sweep of the event for Simmons. First year Lindsay Nichols (Kennebunk, Maine) placed second for the visitors with a time of 2:31.80, while senior Kara Silva (Reading, Mass.) clocked in at 2:43.36. Morris finished third in the 400-individual medley earlier in the night for the Sharks with a time of 5:16.72. Deveaux won the race for the Corsairs with a time of 5:05.85, ahead of Simmons sophomore Hannah Plourde's (Westfield, Mass.) time of 5:07.01.
Giraldi and Morris also made up the Sharks' quartet that opened the meet with a win in the 200-medley relay, joining senior Joleigh Ferro (Pittsfield, Mass.) and sophomore Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) to post a time of 1:59.93.
Swisher won an event of her own for Simmons, hitting the wall first in the 50-freestyle with a mark of 26.35, while senior Chloe Davis (Merrimack, N.H.) finished first in the 200-freestyle for the Sharks at 2:06.37.
Simmons final winning race of the night was the 200-free relay on the efforts of Stewart, Ferro, sophomore Jordan Mattheisen (Seattle, Wash.) and Davis and a time of 1:46.18.
Deveaux won her second event of the night for UMass Dartmouth with the best time in the 500-freestyle at 5:38.56 to finish ahead of Mattheisen's mark of 5:53.42 for the Sharks. Deveaux joined teammate Kaya Flanagan (Fairhaven, Mass.) as the meet's only multiple winners of individual events. Flanagan won the 1000-freestyle for the Corsairs by almost 30 seconds with a mark of 11:35.44, while Simmons junior Kevyn Lee (New York City, N.Y.) placed second with a time of 12:04.98. Flanagan's second win came in the 200-backstroke in a time of 2:20.46 to finish ahead of the Sharks' Ferro (2:24.09).
UMass Dartmouth won both diving events as senior Brooke Garvey (Billerica, Mass.) won on the one-meter board with 224.69 points, while Simmons first year Leyan Li (Deerfield, N.H.) placed third with a mark of 129.00. Sophomore Kendra Hebert (Lowell, Mass.) earned the top score for the Corsairs in the three-meter diving event with 240.97 points.
Simmons will swim again on Saturday, January 17 when they host Regis College and Colby-Sawyer College at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium at 1:00 p.m., while UMass Dartmouth travels to Wenham, Mass. on January 15 to take on Gordon College at 5:00 p.m.
