Husson claimed the NAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship for the third consecutive year
WATERVILLE, Maine – The Husson Eagles have been crowned the North Atlantic Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving 2023-2024 champions after this past weekend’s NAC Championship held at the Metropolitan Collegiate Swimming and Diving Championship (METS) in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Husson charted a total of 547 points to land the top spot in the NAC leaderboard. Maine Maritime Academy finished in second with 512 points while Gordon College earned third place with a score of 393. SUNY Delhi did not place in the meet.
The Metro Collegiate Championship meet served as the 2024 North Atlantic Conference Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship. NAC swimmers and divers were scored separately from the METS to determine a NAC champion.
Husson finished the weekend with nine NAC first place individual honors and two top finishes in team relays. Rachel Hand led the way for Husson as she placed as the NAC top individual finisher in three events (200 IM, 100 Backstroke, 100 Free). Kayla Payson picked up two first place honors in the 100 and 200 Fly, along with a second place finish in the 500 Free. Diver Riley Mahoney took first place honors in the 3-meter dive while Grace Rocheleau was the top finisher in the 200 Breaststroke. Erin Madden also picked up two first place NAC honors for the Eagles in the 100 Breastroke and 200 Backstroke.
The Weekend at a Glance:
After day one of the championship meet, Husson trailed Maine Maritime Academy 154-124. The Mariners saw gold in the first event of the day as the team of Natasha Kopeck, Elizavata Zhukov, Kylie Cantlon, and Rayelle Brewer won the 200 Free Relay with a time of 1:45.81. Husson was seconds behind with a time of 1:48.57 to earn the second-place finish. In the 500 Free, Gordon College, Husson, and Maine Maritime would each find themselves successful with Katherine Maloney (5:37.22), Kayla Payson (5:37.94), and Cantlon (5:53.01) all placing in the top three respectively. Husson would end the day with a 400 Medley Relay victory over Maine Maritime with a time of 4:21.54. The Eagles’ team in the event consisted of Hand, Madden, Payson, and Mia Winslow.
Day two started off with another neck and neck relay performance between Maine Maritime and Husson. The Eagles would place second in the 200 Yard Medley just a hundredth of a second behind the Mariners. Mahoney would find success on the diving board after placing as the top finisher for the NAC with a score of 332.90. Husson’s Payson (100 Butterfly), Madden (100 Breastroke), and Hand (100 Backstroke) would all finish the day with first place finishes in their events. Brewer (Maine Maritime) and Maloney (Gordon) also topped the podium in their two individual events on Saturday.
Going into the final day of the championship, Husson was down five points at the start of competition. Maloney captured another first-place finish for Gordon College in the 1650 Freestyle with a time of 19:33.93. In 1-meter diving event, Natasha Kopeck (Maine Maritime) beat Husson’s Riley Mahoney with a score of 387.30. In the five remaining events, Husson secured four first-place individual honors and out swam Maine Maritime and Gordon in the final 400 Free Relay to end the meet as the 2023-2024 NAC women’s swimming & diving champions.
In the Metro portion of the Championship, Husson came in second out of 11 schools earning of score of 814. First place went to Felician University with 1,249 points. Notable performances came from the Eagles’ Rachel Hand who finished in second in the Metro in the 200 IM and 100 Backstroke, with diver Mahoney earning a second place and third place finish in the 3-meter and 1-meter dive respectively. In the 200 Butterfly, Payson swam a time of 2:18.78 good enough for a fourth-place finish in the Metro. For Maine Maritime, they clinched a Metro third place finish in the 200 Free Relay. Kopeck saw success in the 1-meter dive, scoring second place in the metro event. Gordon’s Maloney finished ended the Metros with two fourth place finishes in the 1650 Freestyle and 400 IM.