Women’s Swimming Leads At NEAC Championship After Two Days

COBLESKILL, N.Y. – After two days of competition at the 2013 North Eastern Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, the Wells College women's swimming program sits in first place entering Sunday. The Express are seeking their second-straight NEAC championship title entering the final day of the three day meet.

Following the opening day of action on Friday, the Express women posted 165 total points, leading the field of five qualifying team. The Wildcats of Cazenovia College trailed the Express by 34 points while the Screaming Eagles of the College of Saint Elizabeth placed third with 103 total points.

The Express, in the midst of their best season on record, looks to be the first sports team at Wells College to claim back-to-back conference championships. The women's swimmers tallied 460.5 points last season, edging Cazenovia College by 39 points. The Express concluded their regular season with an 8-4 overall record, the most victories in a single season dating back to the 1981-82 season in which the Express posted an overall record of 7-3.

In the first event of the day on Friday, freshman swimmer Hilary Feudale (Coal Township, Pa.) recorded times of 26.47 seconds and 26.71 seconds in the preliminary and final heats, respectively. Her preliminary heat time ranks her second all-time in Wells College history, trailing former teammate Gabby Spencer by .12 seconds. In the Women's 500 Yard Freestyle, sophomore Olive Touron (Cato, N.Y.) set a personal best time of 5.45.41 in the finals, ranking her sixth all-time in Express history with that time.

Freshman Meghan Terry's (Delmar, N.Y.) time of 2:32.70 in the Women's 200 Yard Individual Medley ranks 10th all-time in history and also earned her squad 12 points by finishing third amongst the other competitors. The foursome of Terry, freshman Nina Daniels (Pittsford, N.Y.), Touron and Feudale came up strong in the Women's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, placing first amongst all schools and also setting a third place time in Wells history (1:49.89).

Through 26 total events after the second day of competition, Wells accumulated 369 total points to continue to lead the field. Cazenovia College was only 40 points behind the Express after 26 events while the College of Saint Elizabeth maintained third place with 228 total points.

In the Women's 200 Yard Freestyle on Saturday, the top three finishers all came within .59 seconds of a first place finish. Touron's time of 2:08.76 ranks her third all-time in program history. She also placed third overall against the field, earning 12 early points for the Express.

Feudale came up large for Wells in the Women's 100 Yard Backstroke, setting the program's top mark in both the preliminary heat (1:05.37) as well as the championship heat (1:03.63). Both times eclipse the first place mark of 1:06.42 held by Jennifer Ingold on Nov. 19, 1991. Feudale finished just under seven seconds of the second place finisher, Jenn Foley of Cazenovia College, and used her dominating performance for 16 points

Wells also utilized another record-setting performance in the Women's 800 Yard Freestyle Relay as Feudale, Terry, Daniels and Touron combined to claim first place in addition to setting the program's top mark with a time of 8:56.37. The previous program record time of 9:10.69 was set on Feb. 21, 2003 as the squadron of Kate McLaren '05, Christina Brun '04, Elizabeth Young '06, and Alice Globus '08.

Feudale, Terry, sophomore Hallie Hanson (Ashville, N.Y.) and Touron again teamed up to place first in the Women's 200 Yard Medley Relay, securing a time of 2:04.63 to rank second all-time in program history. They finished only .17 seconds behind the foursome of Katie Reid '90, Alix Walmsley, Brooke Levy and Tracy Conrad, a time of 2:04.46 that was recorded on Feb. 16, 1989.

The Express wrap up their season Sunday, Feb. 17 as they enter the final day of action on the campus of SUNY Cobleskill with the championship heats for day three commencing at 5:00 p.m. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).