Sutherland Drops School-Record in 50 Fly; Owls Movin' on Up at LEC Championships
Westfield Moves Up To Fifth in the Team Standings
WESTFIELD., Mass. – Autumn Sutherland (Cedar Hills, Utah/Lone Peak HS) dropped her school-record time in the 50 butterfly on Saturday, as she sprinted to a runner-up finish in the 50 butterfly at the at the 2026 Little East Championships. Sutherland swam 27.41 seconds in the evening finals after posting a time of 27.55 in the preliminaries earlier in the day at the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Mass.
Both times were faster than the record mark of 27.90 which she set in December.
Sutherland was part of a solid showing during Saturday night's finals, as the Owls moved up one spot to fifth in the overall standings among the 11 competing women's programs.
Westfield enters the final day of the meet on Sunday with 319 points. Eastern Connecticut leads the meet with 605 points, Bridgewater is second at 394, followed by Keene (354), Husson (333), the Owls and UNE (304) who will likely be in close competition for a spot on the team podium at the meet's conclusion.
The Owls had several podium finishes in championship events. Freshman Isabella Zeppa (Monson, Mass.) led the way with a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, touching in 1:01.71 to earn eight team points.
Zeppa was just 1/100th of a second off of Kait Kelly's school record time.
Emily Donatio (Westport, Mass./Dartmouth) added another second-place performance in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.04. The Owls also scored in the championship final of the 400-yard IM, where Megan Baio (E. Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) placed seventh in 5:31.30, and capped the evening with an eighth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay (8:55.78).
WSU added valuable points in the consolation finals as well. Emily Rogers (Lowell, Mass./Central Catholic) placed 12th in the 400-yard IM (5:33.12), and Olivia Harkins (Woburn, Mass.) finished ninth in the 50-yard butterfly (28.91). In the 200-yard freestyle, Aurora Lee (S. Hadley, Mass.) led the way with a ninth-place finish (2:10.33), followed by Vivian Vanderpool (Elgin, Okla.) (15th, 2:21.25) and Ava Smith (Hamilton, Mass.) (16th, 2:21.78). Andrea Mattson (Temple, N.H./Con Val Regional) added a 13th-place showing in the 100-yard backstroke (1:08.14), Caitlyn McIntyre (Duxbury, Mass.) was 15th (1:11.56), and Chloe Chofay (Blackstone, Mass./Blackstone-Millville) placed 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:17.67), rounding out a productive Saturday night for the Owls.
The meet finishes on Sunday – Prelims at 10:00 a.m. and finals begin at 6:00 pm.