GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Bryn Mawr swim team kicked off their 2019-20 campaign earlier Saturday afternoon at Centennial Conference foe Gettysburg. It was a strong opening weekend for the Owls swimmers, led by a victory in the 1000 freestyle by Becca Adlai-Gail.
The Owls senior co-captain got her swan song season underway in spectacular fashion, claiming a huge win in the grueling distance event. Adlai-Gail bided her time in the event, swimming a great pace through the opening 500 yards to put her just behind Gettysburg's Katie Cooper. Then, with about 300 yards to go, Adlai-Gail sailed past her opponent and slammed the door. Though not quite a record for Adlai-Gail, her time of 11:28.25 was enough to beat out Cooper, take first place, and get the Owls nine points on the day. She would later go on to take fourth in the 500 freestyle to get her team two more points via the tough distance double.
There were plenty of other solid performances on the day for the Owls. First-year Emmy Wisz claimed a fourth-place finish of her own in the 200 freestyle, getting her Bryn Mawr career off to a great start with a time of 2:11.45 in that event. In the 50 freestyle, her classmate Kelly Peterson also earned a fourth-place finish thanks to a solid time of 26.88 in the event. Ryan Griffin came across the line right behind her, with the senior starting off her final season with a 26.99.
Maya Schneider got her sophomore campaign off to a tremendous start, setting a new program record in the 100 yard IM. A rarely-swam event in the program's recorded history (there were three Owls on the leaderboard prior to today in the event), Schneider still went out and set an impressive bar thanks to her fourth-place finish in the event. Schneider's time of 1:05.87 was faster than the previous Bryn Mawr best by almost five full seconds. Maggie Hernan (1:13.30 - 4th fastest), Rachel Adlai-Gail (1:14.78 - 5th fastest), and Hannah Nye (1:16.35 - 7th fastest) each also swam the event and broke into the all-time top 10 as well.
Other notable performances included Wisz bagging her second fourth-place finish of the day in the 100 fly and a fourth-place finish for Hannah Soisson in the 100 breaststroke.
The Owls will be right back in action on back-to-back days next weekend. Bryn Mawr will welcome Franklin & Marshall and Swarthmore to campus on Friday night at 6:00 PM before getting right back in action on Saturday afternoon at home against Cedar Crest and Immaculata.
