By Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25
Features Editor
Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Athletics
Sitting in the stands by the poolside, Mount Holyoke families and students cheered on athletes competing in the annual Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving senior meet, hosted at home against Smith College on Feb. 5. Mount Holyoke triumphed with a score of 163-131, with diver Kathryn Murphy ’22 breaking the one-meter board school record for the second week in a row.
The first event was the 200-yard medley relay, where Mount Holyoke placed second, with swimmers Anais Magner ’23, Megan Schneider ’25, Hannah Heierhoff ’25 and Caitlyn Richmond ’22 putting up a time of 2:01.40.
Mount Holyoke swimmers finished first, second and third in the 100-yard backstroke, with Adji Diouf ’24 placing first with a time of 1:06.28 and Magner placing second with a time of 1:07.53.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Mount Holyoke swimmers touched first, second and third again with Richmond coming in first at 26.68 and Diouf placing second with a time of 27.63.
“I really … tried to focus on what I could do during [the] moment [and] stay in my lane … and just really … think about what I’ve been working on for the past few weeks and … [bring] that into play” Richmond said.
Murphy scored 293.17 points on the one-meter board, breaking the pool record of 289.80, which she’d set at a home meet against Western New England the previous weekend. Sophie Simon ’25 qualified for the NCAA Division III Regional Championships alongside Murphy by securing a second qualifying score of 248.17.
“It was just great to see [Murphy] performing at such a high level,” Head Coach David Allen said. “The perseverance she’s had has been amazing because she’s had a number of different injuries that she’s overcome in the last four years … So to see her where she is right now is just awesome.”
Allen spoke of his optimism about Murphy’s trajectory for this season and her potential to compete at the National Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship meet. “She’s — knock on wood, I don’t want to jinx anything — but she’s going to Regionals and has a good shot of making it to Nationals this year."
As for the senior celebration, colorful posters honoring this year’s graduating swimmers and divers lined the pool walls.
“The fellow … younger class teammates make up what we call psych up signs, which are a whole bunch of usually eight-and-a-half by 11 pieces of paper that they just hang up on the wall [along] with encouraging messages. Everyone signs [on] a poster for them,” Allen said.
Additionally, each senior wrote a short blurb about their time on the team, thanking the people who have helped and supported their swimming and diving. At the beginning of the meet, these speeches were read aloud and each senior was given a bouquet of flowers.
“[To] have … your family and friends [in the] stands and kind of see all the hard work your teammates went through and all the hard work your coaches went through is really great,” Richmond said. However, she felt that “the best part is you get to be surrounded by your teammates and then the other seniors.”
“It was really great being able to walk out on deck and just kind of see all the decorations and hard work, and have everyone kind of there to celebrate you [with] your other teammates,” Richmond said.
Looking toward the future, Richmond is excited for the team to compete again at the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship beginning on Feb. 17.
“I’m feeling pretty confident going into NEWMACs … It’s super fun to be in that atmosphere where you have a huge crowd, you have a lot of great competition, and you’re swimming against some teams who you’ve waited the whole season to swim against,” Richmond said. [For] some teams you’re racing … [it] might be your second or third time racing against them. … It’s just a great way to end this season no matter what happens.”
Most of the Swimming and Diving team members will end their season with the NEWMAC championship meet. Afterwards, Murphy and Simon will continue to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Regional Diving Championships at Smith College.