MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Bates women's swimming and diving senior captain Grace Wenger captured her first career NESCAC title, and junior Sophie Cassily earned her third, highlighting another strong day of competition for the Bobcats Saturday at the NESCAC Championships. 

Wenger (Hanover, N.H.) raced to the finish in the championship final of the 200-yard freestyle in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:49.48, capturing first place by more than a second over runner-up Carter Roebuck from Williams. Wenger, who had placed second and third in the event the previous two seasons, finally broke through for her first NESCAC title. The Bobcats landed two swimmers in the top eight in the 200 free, with junior Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) taking fourth in 1:52.83.

Meanwhile, junior Sophie Cassily (Rye, N.H.) 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. The three-time NESCAC champion's other conference title came in the 200-yard backstroke two years ago. 

Cassily was part of another All-NESCAC performance to start the night, when the Bates 200-yard medley relay team of Cassily, first-year Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine), first-year Emily Kalvaitis (Darien, Conn.), and senior Margie McLeod (Durham, Maine) took third place in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:44.30.

Palmer finished in the top eight in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking fifth in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 1:03.95 in the championship final, after posting a prelims time of 1:03.90.

Elsewhere, senior Natalie Young (Windham, N.H.) continued her strong NESCACs with a sixth-place showing in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:30.56, after posting a prelims time of 4:30.50.

With one day of competition remaining, the Bobcats sit in fifth place out of 11 teams with 678.5 points, just 15 points behind fourth-place Colby College.