Owls Swimming Splits On Senior Day

WESTFIELD, Mass.    – Westfield State swimming and diving celebrated senior day as part of a double-dual meet with the University of New England and Western New England at the Ely Pool on Saturday.

Westfield defeated Western New England, 129-98, but the Owls fell to UNE by a 191-61 final score.   UNE also defeated WNE 194-58 to round out the team scoring.

For Westfield, Olivia Harkins (Woburn, Mass.) won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:25.88. She added a third place finish in the 200 IM. Alexa Richter (Westfield, Mass.) was tops in the 50 freestyle in a time of 26.00 seconds flat.  

Westfield's 4x200 relay team closed out the meet with a second place finish, as the quartet of Richter, Madison Bombard, Brooklyn Jones (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Katie Colby (Shrewsbury, Mass.) posted a time of 1:51.08, 3/10ths of a second behind UNE.

The Owls recognized senior Richter, and junior Allyson Linkenhoker (Monson, Mass.), who has accumulated enough credits to graduate early, as well as graduate students Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and Molly Finnegan (Westport, Mass.), who were completing their eligibility this season after missing their freshman season due to the pandemic.

Finnegan posted a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:11.06, and a fourth place finish in the 50 butterfly in her final home meet.

UNE's Michaela Harjus and UNE's Ella Smith each won a pair of events for the vistors.

Westfield will next compete at the Little East Conference Championships in Wellesley, Mass. on Feburary 13-16.