WELLESLEY, Mass. (February 14, 2025) – The women's swim program traveled to the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Massachusetts, for Day 1 of the LEC Championships. The prelims session saw six swimmers qualify for finals, with one swimmer qualifying in two events. Finals saw every swimmer record another season-best time in their events. Caitlin Guntly and Ella Smith would both earn WNE records, Smith earned an LEC Championship meet record, and the 4x100 Medley Relay earned a WNE team record.
Results:
Western New England: 5th/12
How it Happened:
Day one of prelims started with Sofia Piantedosi and Giada Caruso swimming the 500-yard Freestyle race. Piantedosi would earn a season-best time by 6.56 seconds, finishing with a 6:55.36. Giada Caruso swam a season-best time of 6:48.62 in the event. That was a best time by 3.33 seconds. The 100-yard Butterfly was next. Olivia Emanuele would swim a season-best time of 1:06.67, dropping 1.95 seconds and placing eighth in the event, which earned Emanuele a place in the A-Final later on Friday. Caitlin Guntly swam a season-best time of 1:01.69. That was a best time by 2.28 seconds, earning Guntly second place in the A-Final. Gianna Calabrese will swim the 50-yard Breaststroke in the B-Final on Friday after swimming a season-best time by 1.44 seconds. Calabrese earned sixteenth place with a time of 38.76. Both WNE swimmers who swam the 200-yard Backstroke race earned a place in the finals. Julia Remiszewski swam a season-best time of 2:29.16, which was a best time by 5.71. That earned Remiszewski twelfth place and a spot in the B-Final. Caitlin Guntly swam another event during Friday's prelims. Guntly earned another season-best time with a time of 2:21.18. That was a best time by 0.79 seconds. That earned Guntly seventh place and a spot in the A-Final. Amanda Pillard swam the 50-yard Freestyle and earned a time of 31.10 in the event. Alexa Adams then swam a season-best time of 28.34 in the 50-yard Freestyle. That was a best time by 0.17 seconds. Amanda Robinson and Ella Smith would then conclude prelims by swimming the 200-yard IM. Both would make finals, with Robinson earning a season-best time of 2:40.19. That was a best time by 5.47, earning Robinson thirteenth place and a spot in the B-Final. Smith would earn a season-best time by 1.08, which broke the WNE team record once again and earned Smith first place and a spot in the A-Final with a time of 2:12.72.
Finals began with the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, where the WNE relay team of Alexa Adams, Julia Remiszewski, Caitlin Guntly, and Ella Smith earned 6th place with a time of 1:46.46. The next event that saw WNE swimmers in the water was the 100-yard Butterfly. Olivia Emanuele started the A-Final in eighth place, picked up one place, and earned seventh place with another season-best time of 1:05.26 (1.41 second best time). Caitlin Guntly also raced the A-Final of the 100-yard Butterfly and earned another season-best time by 1.17 seconds. The time of 1:00.52 was not just a best time but a new WNE team record and earned Guntly second place in the race. Gianna Calabrese then raced the 50-yard Breaststroke and earned another season-best time by 0.15 seconds, earning sixteenth place for the event. Julia Remiszewski added to the impressive day for the Golden Bears with another season-best time in the 200-yard Backstroke. Remiszewski earned a season-best time by 1.04 seconds and earned 12th place overall in the event with a time of 2:28.12. Caitlin Guntly was back in the water for the 200-yard Backstroke and earned yet another season-best time with a time of 2:10.08 and earned seventh place overall for the event. That time was a 3.10 second best time for Guntly. Amanda Robinson was the next swimmer for the Golden Bears. Robinson swam the 200-yard IM and earned 11th place overall in the event. Robinson had a season-best time in that event by 7.65 seconds and jumped from 13th to 11th place in the event with a time of 2:32.54. Ella Smith swam in the next heat of the 200-yard IM. Smith would win the event with a time of 2:10.18, which was not just a season-best time by 2.54 seconds but another WNE team record and a new LEC Championships meet record. The team would follow that up with one more WNE team record for the day. The WNE 400-yard Medley Relay would swim a team-record time of 4:19.27 in the event and would earn 4th place overall in the event. After all of the season-best times and broken records, the Golden Bears accumulated 129 total points, placing the team in 5th place after day one.
Up Next:
The Golden Bears will continue their swims at the LEC Championships on day two at the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
