NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Coast Guard Academy women's swimming & diving team had a dominant showing this afternoon against Merchant Marine, defeating their rival service academy by score of 208.5-81.5. The Bears took first place in 15 events en route to the victory.
Coast Guard improves to 10-1-1, while the Mariners move to 7-3. The Mariners look ahead to the Skyline Conference Championship Meet. The event, hosted by Purchase College, starts next Saturday, January 25th, and ends the following Sunday. Kings Point will return as the reigning champions.
Sophomore diver
Lara Baronsky (Victory, N.Y.) got the Bears in front early with her meet-opening victory on the 1-meter board, scoring 153.90 to beat two Kings Point divers.
In swimming, senior
Grace Keogh (Erie, Colo.) took first place in three events: the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.65), the 100-yard freestyle (55.12), and the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.07).
Other multi-event winners for Coast Guard were team senior captain
Ellie Hiestand (Telford, Pa.), who touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.71) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:27.46); freshman
Colleen Read (Annandale, Va.) in the 200-yard butterfly (2:14.37) and 200-yard backstroke (2:08.47); and sophomore
Madelyn Paxton (Mechanicsburg, Va.) in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.33) and 200-yard individual medley (2:13.09)
Rounding out Coast Guard's first-place finishes in the individual events were sophomore
Megan Doubrava (Aurora, Colo.) in the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.72); freshman
Samantha Halvorson (Chesapeake, Va.) in the 50-yard freestyle (24.81); and sophomore
Zoe Suhajda (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:28.17).
Finally, the Bears swept both relay events. The team of
Isabel Robey (Warrenton, Va.),
Tailyn Schaufelberger (Austin, Tex.), Keogh, and Halvorson won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:50.22; and the team of Halvorson,
Mikayla Jolley (Las Vegas, Nev.), Hiestand, and
Kathleen O'Shea (Decatur, Ga.) won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:42.92.
The Bears get next weekend off but will head to Worcester, Massachusetts for the following to face NEWMAC rivals Clark University on Friday, February 1st. Coast Guard won last season's dual, 182-88, against a Cougars team that placed last in that season's conference championship.
