The Big Green carried modest goals into the meet. The dual meet against Vermont held no bearing to Ivy League standings, so the Dartmouth squad used the competition to mix its lineup and return to racing form in preparation for its upcoming Ivy League schedule.
Dartmouth captured all but two events in the dual meet and scored second-place finishes in the remaining two races.
The team's nine event victories were highlighted by the 200-yard freestyle, in which the Big Green swimmers clocked in with the first, second and third place finishes. The group was lead by Kristin Simunovich '06 with a time of 1:57.08. Simunovich won the race by out-touching her teammate Laura Hester '09 who clocked in tenths of a second behind at 1:57.27. Fellow freshman Katie Morrison '09 took third place with a 1:58.60, finishing over four seconds ahead of the closest Vermont swimmer.
The 100-yard freestyle event played to a similar result, as Simunovich once again lead the Dartmouth sweep. The senior finished the race in 54.64 and was once again followed close behind by Hester. Completing the trifecta was Katherine Davis '08 with a time of 56.81 seconds. The first Catamount swimmer touched-in at 57.50, well behind the Big Green group.
Simunovich's two event victories were matched by Hillary Preston '09. Preston won the 100-yard backstroke and swam away from the field in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing over four seconds ahead of her Vermont opponent, Nicole Underhill.
Melissa Kern '07's performance, however, was perhaps the most noteworthy. While swimming the 1,650-yard freestyle event, Kern began her mile on a record pace and set a pool record for the 1,000-yard freestyle. She ultimately won the race by a margin of nearly 40 seconds.
Senior co-captain Cary Telander '06 was pleased with team's performance at the meet, and noted the relevance of the victory with regard to the remainder of the team's season. "It was nice to start off the winter with a win," said Telander. "We only have seven weeks left until we're totally finished, so we value every chance that we get to race."
Fellow co-captain Mariah Cunnick '06 added, "Melissa Kern broke a pool record, all of our 200 freestylers swam under 2:00 and our divers did an outstanding job. I can't think of a single swim that was a disappointment. This is just the sort of solid meet we need as we continue to prepare for the Ivy League Championships in February."
The win improves Dartmouth's record to 2-3 overall. The team is back in action on Jan. 21 as the Big Green resumes Ivy League competition when Yale and Penn travel to Hanover for a joint meet.
