Mount Holyoke swimming and diving finishes in eighth in NEWMAC championship

By Genevieve Zahner ’26

Staff Writer

Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving competed in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championship this weekend, coming in eighth place out of 10 teams and beating Smith College and Clark University. The meet started on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and finished on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Day one of the NEWMAC Championship saw Mount Holyoke finishing in eighth for the day with 34 points. The competition opened with the 4x200 freestyle relay. Mount Holyoke’s A relay of Hannah Heierhoff ’25, Maggie Freisthler ’26, Ruth Bailey ’26 and Evelyn Bushway ’24 placed ninth with a time of 8:13.10.

Day two ended with the Lyons in seventh place with 133 points, putting them ahead of Babson College by 12 points and behind Wellesley College by 76.5 points. Mount Holyoke finished eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Megan Schneider ’25, Heierhoff ’25, Carolina Loayza ’26 and Adji Diouf ’24 coming in at 1:40.39. Schneider came in 29th in the 50-yard freestyle event in 25.31 seconds, ahead of teammates Diouf, who completed the event in 25.44 seconds, and Loayza, who finished in 25.64 seconds.

Maddy Sewell ’24, the only diver on the team, received a second-place ranking in three-meter diving, scoring 464.5 points in the finals. Sewell’s finish earned 21 points for Mount Holyoke and earned her Second Team All Conference honors.

During the third day, Mount Holyoke had 172 team points. Diouf, Bushway, Loayza and Schneider all competed in the 4x50 medley relay, taking eighth place with a time of 1:50.20 and beating the previous team record of 1:50.25 set in 2015.

“That was something I don’t think the swimmers were expecting to happen, including myself,” Bushway said. “We were not thinking about the record board and times going into that race.”

Additionally, Loayza placed 11th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.15 seconds after shaving 0.61 seconds off the preliminary time. Bushway placed 14th in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:43.92, and Heierhoff placed 15th in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:01.31. In the 100-yard backstroke, Heierhoff placed 30th and Diouf placed 28th, while in the 100-yard breaststroke, Schneider placed 27th.

The fourth and final day of competition ended with Mount Holyoke taking eighth place with 275 points. Highlights of the final day for the Lyons included Heierhoff earning 14th place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.02, Loayza taking 15th place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.75, Seran Goudsouzian ’24 finishing 24th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:39.91, Schneider finishing 25th in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.18 seconds and Diouf finishing 30th in the same event in 56.11 seconds. Bushway finished in 12th place in the 1650-yard freestyle, completing the event in 18:50.42, and also competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay alongside Schneider, Loayza and Diouf, which they placed eighth in.

“I think as a team, we can be proud of what we have accomplished not only at this meet, but over the course of this season,” Heierhoff said. “Almost everyone swam personal bests or at the very least, season bests.” At NEWMACs, the team dropped 276 seconds in its events.

The NEWMAC Championship concluded the regular swimming and diving season, with an overall dual meet record of 5-4. Sewell alone will go on to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Diving Regional Championship at New York University on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.