ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's swimming & diving program continued its dominance as for the fifth consecutive year in a row they once again showcased its speed, depth and diving talents along with the IC relays shined across the four-day Liberty League Championships as they were crowned champions. The Bombers racked up a total of 1,512.5 total team points as finishing in second were the RIT Tigers (1,437.5) and in third were RPI who totaled 1,343 points.
Kerry O'Brien had a career-best swim as she paced the field in the 1,650-yard freestyle final as that was the first race of Saturday's finals as she finished the race in 17:41.91, which was the third fastest time in program history. Also scoring valuable team points for the Bombers and coming home in third was
Alex Eakin who recorded a time of 17:52.69, in eighth place was
Emma Heinze who swam a time of 18:01.05.
The next race of the evening was the 100-yard freestyle which had Ithaca swimmers qualifying and competing in the "B" final, where
Angela Merch was the second-best finisher recording a time of 52.89, which was good for 10th overall. The Bombers then saw both
Samantha Bender and graduate student
Katie Champagne competing in the "A" final of the 200-yard backstroke Bender was third with a time of 2:06.07 and Champagne was seventh recording a time of 2:13.21. The race was won by RPI senior Alyssa Cahill who claimed the Liberty League title in the event with a time of 2:04.13.
Competition was strong on the women's 3-meter diving boards with the top nine finishers all achieving NCAA regional marks. It was once again a masterclass from junior
Kailee Payne. She wowed the crowd several times during the evenings finals as she ended up breaking the previous championship and association records as well as exceeded the pool record with her finals score of 559.95. Payne earned the distinction of Liberty League Diver of the Meet after victories from both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards. On the 1-meter, she totaled a finals score of 502.00 and then followed it up with the top score on the 3-meter at 559.95.
In second place on the 3-meter boards was graduate student
Abby Marraccino who totaled a finals score of 509.55 and in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively, were
Angela Burke (482.80),
Audrey Scott (456.65) and
Jenell Slesser (443.90).
RIT saw Anna Peshenko claim first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.70, which was ahead of Ithaca's
Kathleen Papiernik who was second besting her prelim time and recording a finals time of 2:22.93.
The final event of the 2024 Liberty League Championships was the 400-yard freestyle relay as it turned out to be a battle between RPI, RIT and Ithaca. The Engineers claimed first with a time of 3:29.07 as they edged RIT (3:29.41) and in third was the IC quartet of
Angela Merch, Elle Beaumont,
Naomi Fry and
Samantha Bender who finished the race in 3:30.80.
The Bombers will continue postseason events with regionally qualified divers first competing in the upcoming NCAA Regional slated to begin March 1-2. This year's NCAA Championships will once again take place in Greensboro, N.C. and they take place March 20-23.
