Competing in the annual Bay State Games over the weekend of Sat.-Sun., July 11-12, 2009, Cara Madden '11 captured four gold medals in swimming while establishing two meet record in the masters (ages 19-34) division.  Races were held at the Blodgett Pool at Harvard University.
     Winning the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke events, Madden set meet standards with her times of 1:12.41 and 2:39.09, respectively.  She eclipsed the Bay State records by margins of 4.26 seconds in the 100m and 1.86 seconds in the 200m back.  She also took first place in both the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle with winning times of :29.75 and 1:04.69, respectively.  Her margins of victory in the freestyle were 0.49 seconds in the 50m and 2.36 seconds in the 100m.
    Madden represented the Northeast team during the Bay State Games.  She is a native of Ipswich, Mass.  In total, 28 venues are featured during the month of competition during the Bay State Games.  Activity began June 27 with trap shooting and concludes July 26 with pistol shooting. Other activities include soccer, diving, track & field, baseball, softball, fencing, basketball, field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse.
     At Wesleyan, Madden is the school record-holder in both the 50-yard backstroke (:27.65) and the 100-yard backstroke (:59.36), coming through with both of her record-setting efforts during the 2009 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships as she placed fourth in both races.

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