WORCESTER -- Katherine Pawlak (Westford, MA) and Molly Silsby (Augusta, ME) helped the WPI Women's Swimming and Diving team start out the month of November on a positive note as each won a pair of events to propel the host Engineers to a string of sizable victories in a five-way meet that also included Babson, Brandeis, Smith and Simmons to move to and early 4-0 record.
WPI beat its closest competitor, the Beavers, by a 183-110 score, also topping Simmons (203-95), Brandeis (218.50-74.50) and Smith (223-76), as the Engineers (4-0) won 6 of the 16 events and finished runner-up in 5 events.
Pawlak claimed victories in the 50-yard freestyle (25.17) and the 50-yard butterfly (27.60), while Silsby beat the field in both breaststroke events, winning the 50-yard breaststroke in 32.26 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.61.
Jillian Clemente (Killingworth, CT) was tops in the 200 free (2:00.40) and Carol Wang (Framingham, MA) led a group of 8 WPI swimmers in the top 10 for the 100-yard butterfly, leading the pack with a time of 1:00.51.
Clemente, Wang, Pawlak and Kimberly Hazeltine (Stratham, NH) took second in the 400-yard medley relay (3:46.11), while Jenn Brownell (Spring, TX), Silsby, Wang and Pawlak were runners up in the 400-yard medley relay (4:09.49). Sydney Seo (North Andover, MA), Molly Sykes (Falmouth, MA), Clemente and Hazeltine combined to finish third in the 400 medley (4:12.41).
Olivia Petropulos (Hollis, NH) finished just behind Silsby in the 50-yard breaststroke (2nd, 32.57) and the 100-yard breaststroke (3rd, 1:12.05).
Sykes mirrored Petropulos, claiming second place in the 400-yard individual medley (4:45.34) and third-place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:03.37).
Julia Noël (Beverly, MA) had the Engineers' final runner-up finish in the 3-meter dive (2:18.95), also grabbing fourth place in the 1-meter dive (189.50). Sarah Johnson (Bridgewater, MA) was third in the 1-meter with a score of 209.15.
Brownell took third place in the 50-yard (29.46) and 100-yard backstroke (1:03.19). Seo was fifth in both events with times of 29.57 seconds a 1:03.70.
Similarly, Cailin Gonyea (Southbridge, MA) was third in the 500-yard freestyle (5:35.32) and 1,000 free (11:20.70). Sarah DeMaio (Millersville, MD) finished fifth in the 500 free (5:40.14), while Erica Houghton (Berkley, MA) did the same in the 1,000-yard freestyle, clocking in at 11:37.23.
Sophie Chase (South Portland, ME) followed the winner Pawlak in the 50-yard butterfly (3rd, 28.37) and Clemente came in soon after Wang in the 100 butterfly (3rd, 1:01.61) as the Engineers also had the 5-10 finishers in that event.
Hazeltine led WPI in the 100-yard freestyle (4th, 56.90), finishing back-to-back with Lexi Clark (Easton, MD), who came in fifth with a time of 57.31.
Meanwhile, Emma Edwardson (Cary, NH) chipped in a pair of fourth-place finishes, coming in 0.05 behind Petropulos in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.10) and then following Sykes in the 400-yard individual medley (5:03.47).
WPI is back in the pool a week from Saturday on November 16th, hosting a double-dual with Coast Guard and Southern Connecticut. Action begins at noon.
