ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's swimming and diving team defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 180-120, on Saturday inside the A&E Center Aquatics Pavilion as the Bombers improved to 3-0 on the season.

Ithaca got off on the right foot with a win in the 200 yard medley as Grace Ayer, the reigning Empire 8 Swimmer of the Week, teamed with Samantha Reilly, Lake Duffy and Jaclyn Pecze for 11 points as the quartet won the event with a time of 1:47.15.  The Bombers also took third in the event as Justine Wantz, Ashley Warren, Cassie Papaleo and Erin Hackett posted a time of 1:53.80.

Ayer would go on to claim the top spot in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.30 and the 200 backstroke (2:09.28) while Reilly followed suit with a win in the 100 breaststroke after posting a near three second win in 1:06.77. 

The Bombers would take three of the top four spots in the 1000 free with Cat Tompkins earning a second place finish with a season-best time of 11:10.48.  Brenna Dowd improved on her time from last week and took third at 11:21.13 while Miranda Wingfield placed fourth after touching the wall in 11:30.65.  Tompkins would later add a second place finish in the 500 free after finishing just two seconds behind the winner with a time of 5:27.91.  Nilza Costa was close behind and finished just .07 of a second behind her in third place.  Dowd and Wingfield rounded out the top five as the duo finished fourth and fifth, respectively.     

Costa also earned four points for the Bombers in the 200 free with a second place showing while teammate Kelsey Jepsen claimed a second place finish in the 200 butterfly after completing the race in 2:20.96. 

In the 50 free, Duffy won for the second consecutive week and improved her season-best time to 24.35.  Pecze finished third (25.57) while Genny Tripler (25.70) and Hackett (25.78) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.  Duffy continued to show her speed in the 100 free as the senior sprinted to another first place finish after beating eight other competitors with a season-best time of 53.79.  Papaleo and Pecze added seven more points in the event after finishing back-to-back in third and fourth place.

Hannah Parbst took second place overall in the 200 breaststroke at 2:32.34.  Reilly nailed down another strong performance in the same event after placing third overall with a mark of 2:32.72.

Emily Altchiler had a strong outing in the 200 IM as the freshman ended up in second palce with a mark of 2:17.71.

In the final swimming event of the meet, Ithaca's 400 free relay team of Ayer, Tripler, Pecze and Duffy took the top spot after completing the event in 3:38.65.  Reilly, Rachel Smertz, Wantz and Paige Landers took third place at 3:47.38.

In the diving portion of the meet, Nickie Griesemer won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.  On the 3-meter, Griesemer tallied 281.75 total points while Katie Helly took second with 269.80.  Lindsey Suddaby also had a strong showing on the lower board and took third overall with 253.50 points.

Griesemer won by over 20 points in the 1-meter with 270 total points.  Suddaby was second with 247.25 points.

Ithaca will make the short trek east at 1 p.m. next Saturday as the Bombers visit SUNY Cortland for a dual-meet.