The Cardinal women competed in the NESCAC Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend at Bowdoin, where they accumulated a total of 659 points to place 9th. The team’s finish is three places lower than 2007-08, when the Cardinals hosted the Championships and finished sixth with 765 points.

Three Cardinals gave particularly impressive performances, each turning in a pair of top-eight finishes. Cara Madden ’11 placed fourth in two races while setting school records for each, the 50-meter backstroke (0:27.65) and the 100-yard backstroke (0:59.36). Madden had set the school record in the 50 back with a time of 0:28.35 during the 2007-08 Championships. She also broke a 15-year old record in the 100 back, which had been set by Nathalie Bresztyenszky in 1994 (0:59.43). Bresztyenszky also holds the team record in the 200 back (2:05.86), which was also set in 1994.

Madden also swam the first 50 yards of the 200-yard freestyle relay, in which Wesleyan finished eighth, and did the same in the 200 medley relay, in which the Cardinals also had an eighth-place finish. In all, she contributed 231 of the Cardinals’ 659 points in the meet.

Wesleyan had success on the diving boards as well, with Naima Ford ’11 taking sixth in the three-meter dive (with a score of 373.00) and eighth in the one-meter dive (332.70). Ford contributed 24 points in the three-meter and 22 in the one-meter dive.

Multitalented swimmer Janine Zaltsman ’11 placed seventh in the 100-yard freestyle (0:53.23) to go along with eighth in the 50-yard butterfly (0:26.87). Zaltsman’s time of 0:53.08 in the 100 free preliminary round broke the team record of 0:53.15 set by Amanda Shapiro ’08 in 2007. The Cardinals’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Madden, Agnes Koczo ’09, Emily Kodis ’11 and Zaltsman, shattered another team record with their finish of 1:39.59, which broke the school record of 1:40.18 (set in 2004 by Joanna Tice, Eliza Jones, Stephanie Lasby and Mikki Columbus) by more than half a second.

In addition, Amelia Lupinetti ’11 finished ninth in the 400-yard individual medley, and Caitlin Bethlahmy ’09 had a strong day in the distance freestyle events, finishing 11th in the 1000-yard and 12th in the 1650-yard free.

The Cardinals’ record-setting performance mirrored the 2007-08 Championships, when the team set four school records.

Little Three rival Williams won the title—its ninth straight—with a score of 1827.5, ahead of second-place Amherst (1429.5). The ninth-place finish for Wesleyan was the same as their performance the last time the Championships were held in Brunswick (2005-06). Bowdoin also hosted the meet in 2002-03, when the Cardinals finished 11th in the third-ever Championships.

Although the event was the last for most of the Cardinal team, a few could be swimming farther into the spring. The team posted a dual meet record of 5-5 and was 10-5 overall, but three swimmers are under consideration for the NCAA Division III Championships. Madden, Zaltsman and Lupinetti all turned in NCAA “B” cuts during this meet, which automatically enters them into consideration for the D-III Championships. If they are fortunate enough to be chosen, they will travel to the meet, which will be held at the University of Minnesota from March 18 to 21.