Womens Swimming and Diving

Cara Colker-Eybel '13 Ends Regular Season on High Note, Sets School Records in NESCAC Meet

Wesleyan captured nine of 16 events during a meet against both Bowdoin and Colby with Trinity also in attendance against the Maine colleges only in Middletown Sat., Jan. 30. In doing so, Wesleyan produced comfortable victories vs. both rivals with a 168-131 conquering of Bowdoin and a 171-128 triumph over Colby.

Leading the way as she has all season was Cara Colker-Eybel '13 (main photo) as she captured three individual events and helped the Cardinals win the 400 medley relay with an outstanding 100 fly split of :58.01. She did not compete in an individual fly event during the meet but the winning time of the 100 fly was over a minute. Colker-Eybel took the 100 and 200 free in times of :53.62 and 1:56.00. The Wesleyan school record for the 100 free is :53.08, a mark well within her reach by season's end. The 400 IM also went Colker-Eybel's way in a time of 4:41.73.

Cara Madden '11 (photo insert upper left) was a double winner for the Cards as she captured the 100 back (1:01.37) and the 50 free (:25.10) while also contributing to the win in the 400 medley relay. Diver Naima Ford '11 (photo insert upper right) picked up first-place points on both boards and Rachel Cohen '12 rounded out the Wesleyan wins with the title in the 200 fly.

Wesleyan had equal success in its final dual meet of the year when Coast Guard came to Middletown Sat, Feb. 6, winning by a 169-126 score. Wesleyan had top performances in 13 of 16 events with Colker-Eybel again capturing the 100 and 200 free as well as the 200 IM. The Cardinals had four other multiple events winners in the meet. Ford swept the diving events once again while Cohen matched Colker-Eybel with three top prizes (1000 free, 100 and 200 fly). Sam Santaniello '13 captured both the 100 and 200 breaststroke and Madden repeated with victories in the 100 back and 50 free.

After two weeks of preparation, Wesleyan began action in the annual NESCAC Championships, this year hosted by Middlebury Feb. 19-21. On the opening day, Colker-Eybel finished fifth in the 200 IM while setting a school mark in the prelims with a national "B" cut time of 2:09.07. She bettered her own team mark by more than three seconds. Also highlighting the day with a third-place showing, good for all-NESCAC honors, in the 50 backstroke was Madden, timed in :27.76, just .11 seconds off her own Wesleyan record. Niki Holtzman '10 added a fifth-place showing in the 50 fly with a :26.58 clocking.

On the second day of the NESCAC meet, Colker-Eybel was the top performer as she placed third for all-NESCAC laurels in the 100 fly with a national "B" cut time of :57.88. Madden finished eighth in the 100 back (1:00.18).

The final day brought about just one swimming finalist as Colker-Eybel grabbed seventh in the 100 free (:53.79). During the meet, Ford was the eighth-place finisher on both diving boards with a one-meter score of 365.10 and a three-meter posting of 341.85.

The quartet of Madden, Ally Anderson '13, Holtzman and Colker-Eybel hooked up to set a pair of school records in the relays as they had a 1:38.81 in the 200 free relay and a 3:35.63 in the 400 free relay prelims. Wesleyan placed fifth in both events.

As a team, Wesleyan came in ninth of 11 squads with 605 points. Williams won its 10th consecutive NESCAC crown.