Middletown, CT --- Sonja Kent (West Boylston, MA) won the 400-yard IM as Women's Swimming and Diving finished fourth at the two-day Cardinal Invitational. Wesleyan hosted the event that concluded Sunday. The Engineers score of 809.25 was behind Wesleyan (1282.5), Hamilton (1138), and Trinity (832), but ahead of conference and city-rival Clark (721).
Kent won the 400-yard IM in 4:48.97. She would also have a second (2:16.70) place showing in the 200-yard IM and a fourth place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:23.34. The freshman also posted a fifth place time (2:21.51) in the 200-yard butterfly.
The team of Kent, Kaitlyn Kelley (Salt Lake City, UT), Alex Sans-Guerrero (Ann Arbor, MI) and Alana Aubin (Taunton, MA) completed the 800-yard freestyle relay seventh with a time of 8:35.38, while the quartet of Heather Peruffo (Poughkeepsie, NY), Taylor Briseno (Mansfield, MA), Toni LaBella (Warwick, RI) and Colleen Heckley (Tyngsboro, MA) posted an 8:42.39 for ninth place.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Kent, Kelin Song (Providence, RI), Peruffo, and Aubin took fourth (1:45.26), while the team of Sans-Guerrero, Jess Shelsky (Nashua, NH), Kelley and Jess Lopez (Palmer, MA) finished ninth (1:48.33).
Two teams were in the top ten of the 400-yard medley relay as the fourth place team of Peruffo, Amanda Blom (Wilkes-Barre, PA), Kent and Aubin combined for a 4:19.10. LaBella, Heckley, Briseno and Sans-Guerrero posted a 4:26.88 for eighth spot. Blom would go on to finish 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:18.35 and 2:48.27 in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Peruffo would team with Blom, Aubin and Kelley to take fourth (1:58.65) in the 200-yard medley relay as Becca Draper (Cumberland, RI), Heckley, Kent and Sarah Dinwoodie (East Greenwich, RI) came in ninth (2:03.39).
Kelley, Kelsey Thomas, Dinwoodie and Aubin turned in a sixth place time (3:54.42) in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Finishing three spots behind them was the team of Sans-Guerrero, Lopez, Kent and Peruffo with a 4:00.79.
Nikole Stone (Harrisville, NH) represented WPI with a 10th (35.84) place finish in the 50-yard breaststroke, as Aubin (5th - 28.46) and Briseno (T9th - 29.33) placed in the top 10 of the 50-yard butterfly. Aubin also finished sixth (1:03.46) in the 100-yard butterfly and ninth in the 50-yard freestyle as she turned in a 26.19.
The 50-yard backstroke saw four swimmers in the top seven. Peruffo hit the pad second with a 29.25, while Lauren Anderson (Bedford, MA) finished fifth (30.50), LaBella was sixth (31.54) and Song in seventh (31.71). In the 100-yard backstroke, Perfuffo (T4th - 1:04.87), Aubin (7th - 1:05.78) and LaBella (8th - 1:06.29) posted top 10 times. Later in the 200-yard backstroke four Crimson and Gray were in the top eight, Peruffo was second (2:15.81), LaBella came in fifth (2:20.45), while Song and Lopez were seventh (2:22.65) and eighth (2:23.35). Kent and Heckley would finish fifth (18:51.39) and 10th (21:32.63) in the 1650-yard freestyle.
In the diving portion of the weekend, Marissa Goerke (San Diego, CA) led WPI in the one-meter as she scored a sixth place 158.20, Nica Sylvia (Martha's Vineyard, MA) was seventh (153.70) as Hannah McCallum (Lafayette, CO) was eighth (145.20). The three meter saw Sylvia post fifth place results (170.55), as Goerke was seventh (146.15) and McCallum was eighth (143.80).
Women's Swimming and Diving returns in January when they host Regis at Clark at 1pm on January 15, 2011.
