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Feb. 22, 2008 WELLESLEY, Mass. - Babson College senior captain Meg Lynch (Holden, Mass.) secured her eighth New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title on Friday night, as she finished first in the 200 individual medley at the 2008 NEWMAC Championships at Wellesley College. The only female swimmer in Babson history to win multiple conference titles, Lynch won her fourth straight crown in the 200 IM. Her time of 2:09.86 was just a fraction of a second shy of her own open NEWMAC record of 2:09.47 set let winter, and it made the 'B' cut for the NCAA Division III Championships. In addition, the first-place finish earned Lynch a spot on the NEWMAC All-Conference First Team for the fourth consecutive season. Lynch will continue her quest for NCAA qualification tomorrow, when she competes in both the 100 fly and 100 breaststroke. She won the fly event in each of the last two seasons while finishing second in the 100 breast last year - the first and only time she has swam the event at the conference meet. While Lynch began the final NEWMAC meet of her magnificent career, first-year Mia Filippini (Lake Forest, Ill.) kicked off her first trip to the conference championships in impressive fashion. The rookie freestyle sprinter took part in three record-breaking performances on the day, including two in the 200 free relay event. In the morning session, she joined senior Erica Salisbury (Middletown, Conn.), senior Skye Hendrix (Seymour, Ind.), and Lynch in the prelims, where the quarter finished seventh in 1:44.21 - beating Babson's longest standing relay record of 1:45.31 set back in 1999-2000. Filippini, first-year Christina Stone (Haverhill, Mass.), Hendrix, and Lynch then competed in the evening's finals, where they re-broke the school mark and placed fifth overall in 1:42.12. As a result of these record-setting efforts, Lynch now has an astonishing 15 program records to her credit, including marks in all five relay events.
In addition to her stellar performance in the relay, Filippini also made history in her first individual event, as she placed fifth and set a new Babson record with a time of 24.37 in the prelims of the 50 free. That not only broke the previous school mark of 25.07 set by RC Saint-Amour in 2003-04, but also made the 'B' cut for the National Championships. Filippini then placed seventh and hit the 'B' cut again in the finals with a time of 24.40. The quartet of Stone, Lynch, Filippini, and Hendrix teamed up once again in the 400 medley relay, where they placed sixth overall with a time of 4:12.74 - just missing the Babson record of 4:12.17 set a year ago. Also competing for Babson on Friday were Salisbury, first-year Katelynn Conlon (Stoneham, Mass.), junior Shirley Wong (Malden, Mass.), and senior captain Erika Gammon (Topsham, Maine), who placed 18th in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:53.03, and the 400 medley relay team of Salisbury, Gammon, senior Lynn Root, and Wong, who finished 16th in 4:40.04. Babson also had three other swimmers in the 50 free, as Hendrix finished 26th in 26.31, Wong followed in 56th in 29.23, and junior Claudia Gutierrez (Rego Park, N.Y.) came in 61st in 30.87, and three more in the 500 free, where sophomore Stephanie Burns (Hopkinton, Mass.) placed 45th in 5:50.36, Root took 51st in 6:08.45, and Conlon came in 57th in 6:17.29. |
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