Photo courtesy of the Mount Holyoke College athletics department
Katie Tyler ’17 competed in seven events during the tournament, contributing 159 points to Mount Holyoke’s score.
BY CAITLIN LYNCH '20
The Mount Holyoke swimming and diving team traveled to Hamilton College in Clinton, NY this weekend for the 2016 Hamilton Invitational. Eight women’s teams competed in the tournament, which began on Friday evening and concluded on Saturday.
To begin the tournament, the 200-yard medley relay team of Anne Kuenning ’17, Bri Groves ’19, Katie Tyler ’17 and Emily Craig ’17 tied for second place with SUNY Cortland with a time of 1:56.05. Following that, Kuenning finished with a time of 5:44.89 in the 500-yard freestyle, earning 12th place. Groves exhibitioned in the 200-yard individual medley and recorded the top time, swimming a 2:14.87.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Topaz Mukulu ’18 placed 14th with a time of 27.53, while Kate Flaherty ’19 was 19th with a time of 28.38. The 200-yard butterfly saw Tyler finish 10th with a time of 2:34.11 and Sarah Ratzlaff ’20 finish 16th with a time of 3:00.47. Kuenning saw a fifth place overall finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:04.38.
Concluding the day on Friday evening was the 800-yard freestyle relay, in which the Mount Holyoke team of Ratzlaff, Amy Lim ’18, Natalie Burkett ’20 and Delany Berry ’19 finished 10th with a time of 9:16.05.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Tyler, Groves, Kuenning and Craig opened up the action on Saturday on a good note, with a first place finish at1:43.27.
Following the relay, Craig went on to finish the 400-individual medley in 5:00.35, earning fifth place. In the 100-yard butterfly, Groves placed third with a time of 1:01.42 and Tyler placed eighth with a time of 1:04.11. Groves went on to place second overall in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.10. The 400-yard medley relay saw a team of Kuenning, Groves, Tyler and Craig place fifth with a time of 4:17.88.
Burkett and Ratzlaff both posted solid finishes in the 1650-yard freestyle, placing ninth (20:25.13) and 12th (21:46.96), respectively. Next, Kuenning swam to a seventh place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:21.07 and Tyler also earned seventh place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 57.55.
For the second time of the day, Groves saw a second place finish, this time in the 200-yard breaststroke. Groves touched the wall with the clock at 2:34.02. Rounding out the swimming events was the 400-yard free relay team of Kuenning, Groves, Tyler and Craig, who finished fifth overall with a time of 3:50.88.
In the diving events, Mount Holyoke saw a standout performance from Samantha Nemivant ’20, who scored 408.00 points off the 1-meter board and 451.35 points in the 3-meter event. Nemivant placed third in both events with regional qualifying championship marks off both boards. Additionally, the Mount Holyoke athletics website reports that “her score in the 3-meter event also eclipsed a long-standing program record, shattering NCAA Honorable Mention All-American Elena Giordano’s record of 427.55 points.”
Hamilton College took first in the tournament with 669 points. Following Hamilton was SUNY Cortland (668.5), SUNY Oneonta (657), Smith (524) and SUNY Oswego(425). Mount Holyoke will return to competition after the holidays, when it hosts Clark and Wheaton for a tri-match on Jan. 12.