ITHACA, N.Y.-The William Smith College swimming and diving team broke a pair of school records on the final day of the 2018 Liberty League Swimming and Diving Championships. Sophomore
Anna Leffler twice broke the 200-yard backstroke school record and helped the 400-yard freestyle relay break a school record to close out the meet. The Herons finished the meet in seventh place out of 10 teams.
In the morning prelims, Leffler qualified for the championship final of the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:08.30, the morning's fourth fastest time. She was two seconds faster than her seed time and lowered the school record by a second. This evening, Leffler dropped another second off of her time, lowering the school record to 2:07.22. She finished fourth overall, 42-hundredths of a second behind the third place finisher.
The Herons 400 freestyle relay advanced to the championship final with a time of 3:40.70. First-year
Molly Egan, Leffler, senior
Emily Haskins, and first-year
Emma Wilber finished the prelims with the sixth fastest time. In this evening's finals, William Smith shuffled the lineup a little bit with Leffler swimming leadoff followed by Haskins, Egan, and Wilber. The Herons touched the wall fifth, stopping the clock at 3:37.83, lowering the school record by 1.45 seconds. William Smith's "B" relay of first-year
Katie Neff, senior
Ava Lillian, sophomore
Caroline Nash, and first-year
Bethany Kharrazi were seventh among "B" relays, 23rd overall, finishing with a time of 3:57.42.
Tonight's finals opened with the 1650 freestyle. First-year
Elizabeth Fajardo was the lone Heron representative in the event. She placed 19th overall, stopping the clock at 20:15.00.
Egan qualified for the consolation final in the 100 freestyle. She placed 2nd in her heat, 10th overall, stopping the clock at 54.43. Haskins represented William Smith in the "C" final. She touched the wall third in her heat, 19th overall, stopping the clock at 55.35.
Senior
Kate Moreau and first-year
Sarah Berman competed in the "C" final in the 200 breaststroke for the Herons. Moreau won the heat, finishing 17th overall, with a time of 2:39.15. Berman was sixth, 22nd overall, posting a time of 2:47.47.
On the diving board, William Smith was represented by junior
Therese Mandracchia and first-years
Ruby Verbitsky and
Allison Jordan. Mandracchia finished 10th with a score of 356.40. Verbitsky and Jordan were 19th and 20th, respectively.
Rensselaer won the 2018 Liberty League Championship, scoring 1486 points. The host, Ithaca, was second with 1436 points. William Smith finished the meet in seventh place with 631 points, 21 points behind sixth place St. Lawrence. Skidmore was eighth with 591.5 points.
