ITHACA, N.Y. – It was another outstanding day of competition on Thursday as part of the 2024 Liberty League Swimming & Diving Championships with the Ithaca College women's program racking up a total of 788.5 team points to remain in first over RIT (707), RPI (693) and Vassar College (533.5). The Bombers saw a record-breaking performance on the 1-meter diving boards as IC had five divers within the top-8.

The 1-meter was the first diving competition for the women on Thursday afternoon and it proved to be a record setting performance from Ithaca's Kailee Payne as the junior put together an 11-dive total of 533.40 going into the evening's finals. Payne reset the championships, association and pool record as she finished the evening finals session where she did her six hardest dives and was crowned champion on the 1-meter boards with a 502.00. Abby Marraccino scored a second-place finish totaling a 500.55 and also hitting NCAA Regional qualifying marks were Audrey Scott (456.00) who was in fourth, Angela Burke (449.10) was fifth and scoring a sixth-place finish for IC was Jenell Slesser (435.10).

Swimmers on Thursday first competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay which saw the foursome of Samantha Bender, Angela Merch, Sierra Houck and Spencer Carroll teamed up for a third-place finish in the finals with a time of 1:36.84. Achieving an NCAA B-cut and winning with a time of 1:35.18 was the relay squad from RPI.

The Bombers saw two finishes within the top-8 of the 400-yard IM, which was won by RIT's Anna Peshenko. Finishing in second was sophomore Angela Merch who put together a season-best time of 4:37.21 and coming home in seventh place was Lauren Brady who recorded a time of 4:48.52.

First year Kathleen Papiernik continued to have an impressive debut at the LL Championships as she won event 15, the 100-yard butterfly. She swam an impressive 56.55 to pace the field during her morning prelim and during the evenings finals she followed it up with a time of 56.63. Earning valuable team points with a seventh-place finish was Samantha Bender who touched the final wall at 56.08.

The final individual event of Thursday was the 200-yard freestyle, which was won by RPI's Shannon Brown who swam a finals time of 1:53.12. The best IC finisher was sophomore Naomi Fry who recorded a time of 1:55.28, which was good for fifth place. The Bombers relay squad returned to the pool for the 400-yard medley relay which was won by RPI who recorded an NCAA B-cut time of 3:51.00 in the "A" final. Ithaca had Katie Champagne, Emma Kidd, Kathleen Papiernik and Naomi Fry team up for a third place finish and time of 3:55.69.

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The Liberty League championships continue tomorrow with the 200-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke, men's 1-meter diving and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Swimming preliminaries begin at 10 a.m., followed by diving preliminaries at 1 p.m. and finals for both at 6 p.m.