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The Dartmouth
July 15, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Swimmers douse Catamounts

The Big Green women's swimming and diving teams dominated in this midweek, midseason meet against the University of Vermont, scoring 186 points to UVM's 114 on Wednesday. Dartmouth finished first in 12 of the meet's 16 events.

The most exciting performance of the night was turned in by team captain Melissa Kern '07 in the 1650-yard freestyle.

Kern took first place in the event with a time of 17:30.06. That race gave her the second fastest women's 1650-yard time in the history of the Karl Michael pool behind the record of 17:27.68, set in 1998.

"I would have liked to have beaten the pool record. It was a strong day for distance," Kern said.

The night was full of surprises, as the meet featured events not usually included in regular season competition.

"I think as a team we did really well. We got to swim the mile (1650-yard freestyle), 400-yard medley relay, 400-yard individual medley and the 800-yard relay. Normally we only swim the mile at championships, the Ivies," Rippe said.

"It was nice to get different experiences in the water," Kern added.

Dartmouth's diving team decimated the Catamounts, taking first, second, third and fourth places in the both the one meter and three meter diving events. Kathleen Brady '10 took first in both events, followed by Kelly O'Callaghan '10.

"They performed well tonight after being off for thirteen days over Christmas," diving coach Chris Hamilton said.

Both the diving and swim teams had been out of competition for a month, but proved ready for the night.

"Morale was outstanding. We were all excited to get into the pool. It is nice to swim for a home crowd," Kern said.

Heather Jankins '09 had a huge night taking first in her three individual events, and helping the 400-yard medley relay.

Her winning streak started off with the relay, in which the Big Green finished in 4:04.50, besting Vermont's 4:05.60. Jankins also placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke and in the 50-yard freestyle. She won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.20.

Jankins had never swum that event at the collegiate level, having been felled by injury last season.

Dartmouth's Liz Mancuso '08 had three first place finishes. The first of the night was the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:09.79. Her second victory was the 100-yard freestyle which she finished in a time of 54.17 just barely nipping Catamount junior Colleen Clark, who finished in 54.26 seconds. Mancuso capped off her night with a win in the 400-yard individual medley

"I think they are right where they should be at this time of the year. We had great swims tonight from our captains. UVM is a much stronger team than they had been in the past. It is really great what they have done with their program," said Head Coach James Wilson.

In the 200-yard freestyle Vermont's freshman Colleen Clark finished with a time of 1:56.35, while Laura Hester '09 finished after her in 1:59.13.

Vermont also took first and second in the 100-yard backstroke with times of 1:00.78 and 1:02.16 while Carolyn Rippe '10 finished third, clocking in with a time of 1:04.10.

The 500-yard freestyle saw Vermont's Molly MacMillan finish first in front of Dartmouth's Kern.

The 100-yard butterfly also went to Dartmouth as Rippe finished in first with a time 58.68 beating Eryka Karz of Vermont who finished in 1:01.38.

The last race of the night went to Vermont, who finished the 800-yard freestyle relay in 8:00.08 in front of Dartmouth's four women at 8:06.49.

Dartmouth will next take to the water on Jan. 20, against the University of Pennsylvania and Yale at 10 a.m. in Philadelphia.