Hepburn collected her third New England title of the weekend in the 200-yard breaststroke tonight (PHOTO BY Brian Foley) |
Hepburn caps breaststroke sweep with third New England title of the weekend
KINGSTON, R.I. (February 27, 2022) – The Stonehill College women's swim team capped off its inaugural season of competition by finishing in second place in the team standings at the 2022 New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships, hosted by the University of Rhode Island, as day four drew to a close at Tootell Aquatic Center tonight.
Sophomore Jami Hepburn completed a sweep of the three breaststroke swims at the New England Championships, winning her third gold medal of the weekend in the 200-yard breaststroke tonight. The win highlighted a night of six podium finishes for the Skyhawks to give them 15 for the weekend in total, with sophomore Sydney Stockwell adding a New England title in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday. Stockwell and freshman Sofiya Gobora apped a weekend with six podium finishes overall, including relays, as Gobora posted two individual silver medals tonight.
Stonehill finished the weekend with 984 points for second place in the team standings behind winners Roger Williams University with 1,977 points. The Skyhawks finished ahead of third place Regis College (807 points) and Norwich University (754.5) in fourth, with the University of New England (725) rounding out the top five.
Highlights
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Hepburn completed her sweep of the three breaststroke distances over the weekend, winning her third New England title in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:28.71, after qualifying first out of 15 total entries in 2:29.87 during prelims. Freshman Sharlotte Lundell finished second in a personal-best 2:31.51 as the Skyhawks swept the top two spots on the podium after qualifying second as well in 2:32.66, cutting nearly seven and a half seconds off her previous PR today.
Gobora added a pair of individual second place finishes, with a third in a relay, to give her six silver medals for the weekend (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) - Gobora and junior Nika Sokolova finished second and third, respectively, in the 50-yard backstroke final. Gobora earned a silver medal with her personal-best finals time of 28.28-seconds, while Sokolova took the bronze in a personal-best 28.43. Gobora was the top qualifier out of the morning prelims with her time of 28.45-seconds, while Sokolova qualified third in 28.91.
- Gobora added a second silver medal in the 100-yard individual medley in a school-record 1:03.21 after qualifying third in 1:04.38. She swam the first two legs (butterfly and backstroke) of the final in 29.06-seconds and then the last 50 (breaststroke and freestyle) in 34.15. Both of her times today were under school-record time, dropping almost three full seconds off the prior program mark.
- Lundell, Gobora and Sokolova also collected silver medals as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay that finished second in a school-record 3:43.15 tonight. Lundell swam the opening leg in 56.80-seconds, followed by freshman Julie Mastroianni for a 57.01-second split in leg two, before Sokolova swam the third leg in 55.24-seconds and then Stockwell swam the anchor leg in 54.10. Sokolova and Stockwell were joined by Hepburn and sophomore Katie Keating to post a time of 3:48.86 in the morning prelims to qualify second overall.
More Results
- Stockwell and Sokolova finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle final tonight after qualifying fourth and seventh in the morning prelims. Stockwell finished the final in 55.36-seconds for sixth place after clocking in at a school-record 55.16-seconds for fourth in the morning. Sokolova finished the final in a personal-best 56.08-seconds after qualifying seventh as well in 56.22.
- Sophomore Maddie Conley and Keating both qualified for the B-Final of the 100-free. Conley finished fourth in the B-Final (12th overall) in 57.05-seconds, after qualifying 11th in 57.66, and Keating took seventh (15th overall) in 58.94 after qualifying 15th in 58.31.
- Mastroianni finished 20th out of 36 total entries in the 100-yard freestyle in 59.06-seconds.
- Mastroianni was also 25th in the 100-yard individual medley with her time of 1:09.26.
Up Next
Stonehill finished its official inaugural season with a 6-3 dual meet record, posting a seventh place team finish at its first Northeast-10 Conference Championship to go with this second place New England finish. Hepburn captured the first NE10 Individual Championship in program history in the 100-yard breaststroke, to go with her three individual New England titles this weekend, while Stockwell produced a fourth New England Championship.
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