THE BASICS:
 
- Meet: 2023 NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championships
 
- Location: Worcester, MA. (WPI Sports & Recreation Center)
 
- Results: 1st of 10 (1,441 points)
 
- The Lead: The MIT women's swimming and diving team successfully defended its NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championship title for the 12th straight year as the Engineers captured their 17th championship overall with a dominating performance on the campus of WPI.
 
MIT won 18 events and led wire to wire as the women's and men's teams have now swept the championships for the 12th straight year. The team finished with 1,441 total points followed by Wheaton (921.50) and Springfield (795.5). That is the highest total in program history, eclipsing the previous mark of 1,422 which the team set in 2016-17 when they also finished fifth at NCAAs. 
 
The Engineers swept the major awards as first-year Sonia Seliger (New York, N.Y.) was named Rookie of the Year, sophomore Kate Augustyn (Eau Claire, Wis.) took home Swimmer of the Year and sophomore Rachel Loh (Arcadia, Calif.) defended her Diver of the Year Award. This is the first time the women have swept all three major awards and Augustyn becomes just the third MIT swimmer to earn Swimmer of the Year award. It also marks the first time both the women and men's teams have swept all three awards. 
 
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
 
1650-Free

• Sophomore Jolie Kim (Englewood, Colo.) kicked off the day with a victory in the meet's longest event as she took gold with a time of 17:29.27.
• This is her first victory in the event after finishing in second last year.

 
200-Back

• Augustyn won her third individual title during the championships with her school record time of 1:57.84.
• She now owns the fastest time in Division III in the event. She shaved almost two seconds off her previous season best mark of 1:59.35.
• Graduate student Laura Rosado (New Haven, Conn.) followed with a second-place finish (2:01.14) and junior Katherine Kostecki (St. Louis, Mo.) finished in fourth (2:05.02).
• Rosado's mark is an NCAA B cut and faster than last year's invited time.
• Augustyn has now won the event in back-to-back years and Rosado earns her fourth All-Conference nod.

 
100-Free

• For the third time during the championships, Seliger won an individual event, taking first with a new school record time of 50.72.
• First-year Sophia Yao (San Gabriel, Calif.) took fourth with a time of 51.79.
• Seliger currently ranks 11th in the country in the event.

 
200-Breast

• Senior Edenna Chen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) completed the sweep in the breaststroke with her third overall title in the event as she clocked in with a time of 2:16.43.
• The time is an NCAA B Cut.

200-Fly

• Sophomore Natalie Tang (Allen, Texas) finished second with a time of 2:04.33. Her time is an NCAA B Cut and faster than last year's invited time.
• First-year Lauren Levy (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished fourth with a mark of 2:06.04 followed by junior Katie Sapozhnikov (Ambler, Pa.) in fifth with a time of 2:07.29.
   

1-Meter Diving

• Loh completed the diving sweep with a final score of 471.10 for her second-straight victory in the event.
• Senior Katelin Du (Scarsdale, N.Y.) took third with a mark of 445.80 while classmate Megha Maran (Elk Grove, Calif.) finished in fifth with a score of 417.60.
• All three divers recorded regional marks.

 
400-Free Relay

• The Engineers completed the relay sweep as the team of Augustyn, Chen, Seliger, and Yao took the top spot with a school record time of 3:24.33.
• The time is also a new NEWMAC Meet and Open record.
• MIT currently ranks eighth in DIII with the time.
• Chen and Augustyn were members of last season's winning team.

 
UP NEXT:
 
- Qualified divers will take part in the NCAA Diving regionals from February 24-25 at NYU. The 2023 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will take place March 15-19 in Greensboro, N.C.
 
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