After a long and arduous weekend, the Wesleyan women’s swimming and diving team finished sixth out of 11 competitors in the NESCAC Championship, scoring 765 points. Although the team did not win the gold, this was the best that Wesleyan swimming and diving has ever performed.

“We made Wesleyan history!” said an excited Amanda Shapiro ’08. “We’ve never placed higher than eighth before.”

The Cardinals also worked to achieve two new team records and finished with 12 top-eight finishes in the Championship finals. The team was proud of its overall performance.

“I think we did pretty well,” said Jessica Houghton ’08. “We definitely performed better as the days went on, and by Sunday we all did very well.”

There were a number of standout performances from the aquatic birds. For the rookies, Cara Madden ’11, Janine Zaltsman ’11 and Amelia Lupinetti ’11 turned in top-eight finishes. Madden placed sixth in the 100-yard backstroke, seventh in the 50 and eighth in the 200. Zaltsman gained the sixth spot in the 50-yard freestyle and eighth in the 100-yard free. Lupinetti finished eighth in the 400 Individual Medley (IM).

“It was the first NESCAC Championship for the freshmen, and they did very well for not having that much experience,” Houghton said.

As for the upperclassmen, Caitlin Bethlahmy ’09 power-housed through the long-distance races, finishing sixth in the 1000-yard freestyle and eighth in the 1650-yard free. Shapiro finished fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke and second in the 100. Kate Krems ’08 captured second place in the 50-yard butterfly and third in the 100. Both seniors made the national B cut in their respective 100-yard times. Krems also set a new team record in the 50-yard fly with a time of :26.11.

Shapiro, Krems, Madden and Zaltsman gained a number of wins in the relays. The quartet placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay, setting a new team record and making national B cuts. They also placed fifth in the 400-medley relay, another national B cut, eighth in the 400 freestyle relay and second in the 800.

“The four of us have swum the medley relays together all year, so we were incredibly comfortable this weekend,” Shapiro said. “We know the way each other swim so well, I think we could have done the relay exchanges in our sleep.”

Shapiro, who is ranked ninth in the nation, will be compete in the nationals at Miami University of Ohio from March 13 to 15. The rest of the NCAA results will be announced this Friday.

The diving squad had a more difficult weekend. No one made it past the preliminary round in either the one-or three-meter dive, finishing in the middle of the pack of 27 spots. The team recognized the tough competition.

“We saw the best divers in Division III,” Houghton said. “The girl who finished first won nationals last year. About five out of the eight finalists broke our pool record. The NESCAC is definitely one of the best leagues in the country.”

While the divers have completed the season, they believe that the team looks strong for next year, especially in light of the freshmen performance this season.

“The freshmen are very talented and work hard,” Houghton said. “With the experience they gained this year they will definitely improve a lot next season.”

Shapiro added that she has a lot of confidence in the team.

“To leave on such a positive and successful note is reassuring,” she said. “We are really strong at recruiting and have great incoming freshmen that will be really positive additions to the team.”