MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Senior captain Grace Wenger and first-year Sarah Palmer both broke school records on Sunday and the Bates women's swimming and diving team surged to a fourth-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Middlebury College.

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.

Wenger (Hanover, N.H.) broke her own Bates record in the 100-yard freestyle, racing to the finish in the championship final in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 50.97 seconds, good for a second-place showing and her fourth All-NESCAC performance of the meet.

Meanwhile, Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) etched her name in the Bates record books at No. 1 in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in an NCAA "B" Cut time of 2:18.61, good for fourth place in the championship final.

Elsewhere, junior Sophie Cassily (Rye, N.H.) capped off a remarkable meet 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. Senior Natalie Young (Windham, N.H.) also finished in the top eight in the 200 back, finishing the championship final in 2:05.75, which was good for seventh place.

Junior Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) showed her versatility again on Sunday, finishing seventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:27.97. Then she teamed up with first-year Emily Kalvaitis (Darien, Conn.), Cassily, and Wenger to take fourth place in the final race of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay, as the Bobcats clocked in with an NCAA "B" Cut time of 3:28.97.

Select Bates swimmers will compete at the upcoming NCAA Championships, set for March 20-23 in Greensboro, N.C.