Women’s Swimming Makes a Splash in Opener

On Friday, Oct. 24, the women’s swimming team hosted its first meet of the season and notched a win against the University of Bridgeport at the Pratt Natatorium.

Junior Meghan Brazier started the evening for the Pioneers with a win in the 50-yard freestyle, as she hit the wall at a time of 24.41. The Green Machine then saw itself beaten by the Purple Knights in the 200- yard freestyle race, but came back strong in the team events.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, freshman Laura Bendfelt, senior Courtney Delehanty, junior Joyce Kwok, and Brazier raced to a time of 1:37.04. In the medley ditto, senior Johanna Pettersson, freshman Erika Hultman, Kwok, and Brazier clinched a 1:46.38 time, which was clocked as an NCAA provisional qualification time. As the evening came to a close, the Pioneers won seven events, and racked up 117 total points, beating its opponent’s by 82.

After the season-opener at home, the Pioneers were back in action again on Saturday, Oct. 25. The away trip to Central Connecticut State University ended with the same total of wins for the Green and Gold, yet with a close defeat to the hosts overall.

The first event of the day was the 200-yard medley relay, raced by junior Seren Jones, junior Marthe Soerensen, Hultman, and Delehanty. The squad fell short with the time of 1:49:79, which declared the visitors’ faith, as they landed second by less than a 10th of a second. From that point on, the two teams both clinched significant wins in their individual events. Kwok won both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events, marking two NCAA “B” cut times respectively.