Seahawk Women's Swimming Wraps up Perfect CAC Season
Salisbury, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swim team concluded the program's first-ever perfect Capital Athletic Conference dual meet season with a 142-63 league victory over host Salisbury University Saturday afternoon to finish with a 6-0 conference record.
Junior captain Kelly Heyde (Wilton, Conn./Wilton) captured three individual events in leading the Seahawks to their best-ever overall record of 14-1. St. Mary's claimed first-place finishes in nine of the 11 short-course meter events in setting the school's season record for wins at 14.
The foursome of first-year Hannah Hafey (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley), junior Chelsea Gulliver (Frederick, Md./Urbana), senior captain Katie Serfling (Frederick, Md./Urbana) and first-year Kelsey Abernathy (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) kicked off the meet with a win in the 400 medley relay in 4:46.27.
Then sophomore Erin O'Connor (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) led a sweep of the 800 freestyle event as O'Connor won the event in 9:46.11 followed by first-year Brooke Raab (Parkton, Md./Hereford) in second in 9:50.04 and sophomore Hanna Rizkallah (Frederick, Md./Urbana) in third in 10:16.51.
Heyde's first win came in the 200 freestyle as she touched the wall first in 2:23.14 while junior Emma Sullivan (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) was third in 2:27.35. Gulliver paced the Seahawks in the 50 freestyle with a second-place finish in 30.10 while sophomore Hattie Schiavone (Winchester, Va./John Handley) was third in 30.31.
Abernathy led St. Mary's second sweep of an event as she claimed a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley in 2:37.15 followed by first-year Elaina Kohles (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) in second in 2:39.14 and sophomore Stefania D'Ambrosio (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) in third in 2:44.58.
The team's third sweep came in the 200 butterfly as Raab captured the event in 2:32.71 followed by junior Daisy Smith (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) in second in 2:41.10 and Serfling in third in 2:41.89.
Abernathy won the 100 freestyle in 1:04.13 while Kohles was third in 1:06.56. Heyde picked up her second individual win in the 200 backstroke in 2:36.26. Hafey notched a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle in 4:49.36 as she edged her teammate, senior captain Katelyn Grue (Ellicott City, Md./Mount de Sales), by 19-hundredths of a second.
Heyde's final win came in the 200 breaststroke as she led the event sweep, coming in first in 2:53.42. Senior Mandy Pazouki (Silver Spring, Md./JFK) was second in 2:56.28 while first-year Eva Shpak (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) placed third in 2:58.77.
St. Mary's will now turn its focus to the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships on February 17-19 right here in the Michael P. O'Brien ARC Aquatics Center.
