November 5, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Diver Shanti Freitas Qualifies For Nationals

Northampton, MA: Senior Shanti Freitas (Evanston, IL) qualified for the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving National Championships for the third time in her career as she swept both the 1 and 3-meter events with scores of 265.35 and 291.20 respectively in the Pioneers'opening meet against Springfield on Saturday.

Despite the team's 177-119 loss to Springfield, there were several highlights on the day for the Smith squad in addition to Shanti's performance.  First year Lily Seidman (Westfield, IN) began her collegiate career winning three individual events and was a member of the 200 medley relay team that placed first.  She took the 200 freestyle (2:01.15), the 100 free (56.42) and 100 fly (1:00.73) and along with Reyna Levine (Kalamazoo, MI), Rachel Dorset (Stratford, CT) and Francesca Kotey (Gainesville, FL) won the 200 medley relay in 2:01.28.

Senior Marly Pineda (Bosque Farms, NM) was a double winner for Smith in the 1000 freestyle (11:17.82) and 200 butterlfy (2:15.60) and placed second (5:26.58) in the 500 freestyle.

Second place finishes were recorded by Lenora Walter (Santa Ynez, CA) in the 100 back (1:10.34), Levine in the 100 breast (1:18.10), Kotey in the 50 free (26.35) and the 400 freestyle relay team of Kotey, Dorset, Pineda and Abigail Carr (New York, NY) who finished in a time of 4:01.11.

The Pioneers will compete again on Saturday, November 10 when they travel to Eastern Connecticut for a 1 pm meet.