THE BASICS:
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Zesiger Center Pool)
 
- The Lead: The MIT women's swimming and diving team won the MIT Winter Invite with a final score of 1,939.50, almost 600 points ahead of second-place Tufts which finished with 1,348.50 points over the three-day event. In addition, the Engineers set multiple program records and recorded multiple NCAA B Cut marks.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

- MIT opened the Invite with a win in the 800-free. Sophomore Natalie Tang (Allen, Texas) led off and was followed by sophomore Sonia Seliger (New York, N.Y.) and junior Kate Augustyn (Eau Claire, Wis.). First-year Ella Roberson (Midland, Mich.) finished off the win with a time of 1:49.34, which was the fastest of the night, to give the Engineers a final time of 7:26.94 which is better than the 2023 NCAA Invited time.
 
- First-year Camila Pierce (Raleigh, N.C.) swam the 1,650 for the first time this season and finished in third with a time of 17:34.05. Junior Jolie Kim (Englewood, Colo.) finished fifth with a time of 17:53.27.
 
- The Engineers 200-yard free team of first-year Kailey Simons (Williston Park, N.Y.), sophomore Annika Naveen (Wynnewood, Pa.), senior Melody Wen (Cary, N.C.), and Roberson earned an NCAA B Cut as the team set a pool record and tied the school record with a time 1:33.23.
 
- Roberson set a school record with her victory in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 1:50.24. The time is also an NCAA B Cut and faster than last year's invited time of 1:52.00.  First-year Sydney Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) finished in second with a season-best time of 1:52.89 and Seliger touched the wall in fourth with a time of 1:53.96.
 
- First-year Christina Beggs (Voorhees, N.J.) and senior Sydney Chun (Chandler, Ariz.) posted season-best times in the 200-yard butterfly. Beggs finished third with a time of 2:06.61 and Chun finished in fourth with a time of 2:07.48. Tang clocked in with a time of 2:07.75 for fifth. Kim took the top spot in the 'B' Final with a time of 1:58.10.
 
- Graduate student Edenna Chen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the 100-breast with an NCAA B Cut time of 1:01.43 which is faster than last year's invited time and is currently tops in the nation.
 
- Smith won the 100-back with an NCAA B Cut mark of 56.52. Junior Iris Yang (Seattle, Wash.) clocked in with a time of 57.61 for fourth, and Naveen finished fifth with a time of 58.00.
 
- The 400-IM saw the Engineers take the top three spots led by a dominant performance by Augustyn who posted an NCAA B Cut time of 4:24.82 to finish almost four seconds ahead of first-year Katherine Yao (Frisco, Texas) who also recorded an NCAA B Cut time of 4:28.47. Beggs finished in third with a time of 4:29.94.
 
- Roberson set another school record in the 50-free with her time of 23.23. The time is quicker than the 2023 invited time of 23.48 and is currently the second-fastest time in DIII. Sophomore Kathy Zhao (Cincinnati, Ohio) posted a third-place finish with a time of 24.13.
 
- Augustyn, Chen, Simons, and Roberson led the 400-yard medley relay team to a first-place finish with a time of 3:43.80. The performance is an NCAA B-cut by just over seven seconds, as the Engineers defeated second-place Tufts by the same margin.
 
- First-year Fiora Beratahani (San Jose, Calif.) took second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 382.55. She also posted the third-highest score in program history in the 1-meter as her 11-dive score totaled 505.40 for a win and an NCAA Regional Qualifying mark. Sophomore Emma Scott (Belmont, Calif.) finished with an NCAA Regional score of 434.50 in her fifth-place finish on the 3-meter and took fourth on the 1-meter with a regional score of 452.50. Junior Rachel Loh (Arcadia, Calif.) also achieved a qualifying standard on the 1-meter with her fifth-place score of 446.50.
 
- Seliger won the 500-free with a B Cut time of 5:00.17 followed by Beggs in second with a time of 5:05.57. Senior Katie Sapozhnikov (Ambler, Pa.) took seven seconds off her prelim time in the 500-free to win the B Final.
 
- Augustyn won the 200-back in 1:58.68 which is almost four seconds under the B-Cut time of 2:03.17 and faster than the invited time of 2:02.67. The time is currently the fastest in the country.
 
- Sophomore Lauren Levy (Amherst, N.Y.) took the top spot in the 100-yard fly with a mark of 56.19.
 
- Roberson won the 100-yard free with a time of 50.57, just under a second faster than the NCAA B Cut mark and the 2023 NCAA Invited time.  
 
- The Engineers swept the top three spots in the 200 IM led by Augustyn's NCAA B Cut mark of 2:05.17. Beggs finished next with a time of 2:07.96 followed by Chen with a time of 2:08.64.
 
UP NEXT:

- The Engineers will take the pool in the new year as they open 2024 with a road meet at Coast Guard on Saturday, January 6 at 11 a.m.
 
STAY CONNECTED:

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