WATERVILLE, Maine -- Junior Abigail Gibbons won the NESCAC title in the 50 yard breaststroke on Friday to highlight day two of the conference championships for the Bates women's swimming and diving team. 

Gibbons (Westtown, N.Y.) broke the Bates record in the event with her finals time of 28.81, edging runner-up Amanda Wager of Williams College (28.96) along the way. It's Gibbons' first career NESCAC title. 

The Bobcats got a pair of runner-up performances as well. Sophomore Grace Wenger (Hanover, N.H.) took second place in the 500 yard freestyle with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 4:55.05. First-year Sophie Cassily (Rye, N.H.) broke her own program record in the 50 yard backstroke, racing to the finish in 26.03, good for second place in the event.

The Bates 400 yard medley relay team of Cassily, Gibbons, sophomore Natalie Young (Windham, N.H.) and Wenger finished in fourth place with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 3:47.61.

Two other Bobcats, both making their NESCAC debuts, competed in championship finals on Friday, picking up big points for the team. First-year Halé Oal (Huntington Woods, Mich.) took eighth in the 50 yard butterfly, swimming a prelims time of 25.45 and a finals time of 25.77. Sophomore Marjorie McLeod (Durham, Maine) finished eighth in the 50 yard freestyle, racing to the finish in the final in 23.75 seconds after a prelim time of 23.76.

Bates is currently in sixth place out of 11 schools with 380 points. The Bobcats would be much higher, but for some unfortunate luck. Their 200 yard freestyle relay team appeared to have broken a program record and placed second in the event, but the Bobcats were disqualified because one of the swimmers left early. A second-place showing in that event would have been worth more than 50 points. The team can't score in the meet but they will get a second chance to swim an NCAA "B" cut time in the time trials scheduled for Sunday. 

Bates returns to action at NESCACs on Saturday for day three of four, with prelims set for 10am and finals for 5:50pm.