The day began badly for the Jeffs as they lost the women's 400-yard medley relay to Middlebury's 'A' team of Martha Goebel, Megan Olson, Meandy Smeal and Katie Tallon. Amherst's Stacie Botsford '01, Tiffany Johnston '01, Allison Martin '02, and Ashley Simonsen '04 finished second.
The loss in the relay was followed by another loss in the women's 1000-yard freestyle, won by Panther freshman Kellianne Egan with Jeff swimmers Megan Mardy '01 and Rachel Bethlahmy '04 finishing in second and third respectively.
The women finally scored on the second solo event of the meet, when Morgan Bayer '03 won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.21. Bayer followed with a win in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:13.59, and the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:14.09.
Co-captain Hilary Jones '01
followed Bayer's victory in the 200 by swimming a pool-record time of 24.73 in the 50-yard freestyle. She later added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.66.
One of the highlights of the meet was the 200-yard butterfly, where Amherst swept the medals stand.
"[Middlebury] didn't expect us to finish 1-2-3. We knew that Morgan [Bayer] was going to win but [Simonsen] and I went to the blocks to get second and third," said Jaime Fisher '04. Fisher finished second in the event.
Co-captain Amanda Muir '01 was also an integral part of Amherst's win.
Amherst has a small team and only has one diver. Muir finished first in the one-meter diving, scoring nine points, equaling the total points scored by Middlebury for finishing second through fourth.
The meet was so close it came down to the last two events. Had Middlebury swept the 200-yard backstroke and finished first in the relay, they would have won the event by one point.
However, Martin did not allow that to happen, finishing second to win the meet for Amherst.
"The team momentum carried us because everyone was so excited," said Martin. Middlebury did end up winning the relay but it was not enough to top Amherst.
Fisher added, "It's unusual for a team to win an event despite losing both relays."
The crowd was sizable and loud but not hostile.
"The Middlebury swimming coach used to be the Amherst coach, so it's a friendly rivalry. The men's team really helped us out a lot. They had an easier meet so they cheered for us," said Martin.
The Jeffs' next event is a meet at Springfield College on Saturday, followed by a training trip to Sarasota, Fla. Springfield is not considered to be a one of Amherst's major opponents.
"Now we're just trying to get individual performances better and looking to do well against Williams [College], at NESCACs and at Nationals," said Fisher.