Bates College

Junior Sophie Cassily turned in one of the greatest NESCAC Championships in Bates swim & dive history over the weekend, finishing in the top three six times and winning a conference championship along the way.

It all started Thursday night, when the 800-yard freestyle relay team of senior captain Grace Wenger (Hanover, N.H.), senior Natalie Young (Windham, N.H.), Cassily (Rye, N.H.), and junior Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) raced to the finish in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 7:28.39. The mark was good for second place at the meet, the 8th fastest this year in NCAA Division III, and the fastest in Bates history.

Then on Friday, Cassily was the runner-up in the 50-yard backstroke on Friday, breaking her own school record in the process. She raced to the finish in 25.79 seconds in the championship final, breaking her previous Bates record in the 50 back of 25.81 seconds, set at last year's NESCAC Championships. She scored 28 points for her second-place, All-NESCAC performance. 

In addition to her individual effort, the 400-yard medley relay team of Cassily, first-year Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine), first-year Emily Kalvaitis (Darien, Conn.), and Wenger also earned All-NESCAC honors on Friday, taking third place with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 3:47.27.

On Saturday, Cassily successfully defended her NESCAC title in the 100-yard backstroke, touching the wall in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 55.26 seconds in the championship final. On top of that, the Bates 200-yard medley relay team of Cassily, Palmer, Kalvaitis, and senior Margie McLeod (Durham, Maine) took third place in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:44.30.

Cassily capped off a remarkable meet on Sunday with her sixth All-NESCAC performance, a runner-up showing in the 200-yard backstroke, as Cassily touched the wall in the championship final in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 2:01.40. She also helped the 400-yard freestyle relay team finish fourth, as the Bobcats clocked in with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 3:28.97.

The Bobcats tallied 945.5 points over the course of four days, coming from behind to finish 87 points ahead of fifth-place Colby. Bates has now placed fourth in the 11-team meet four times in their last five trips. They have been in the top six each of the last 13 seasons.