The Panther swimming and diving teams opened their second semesters with a home meet on Saturday afternoon against Colby. The women were victorious by a 204-95 score, while the men fell by a 167-131 count. Middlebury returns to action Sunday with a home meet against Bates scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m.
During the women's competition, the Panthers won 14 of the 16 events that were contested. The Middlebury quartet of Audrey Hsi, Erin Kelly, Maddie McKean and Frances VanderMeer claimed the day's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, with a time of 1:50.80.
Hsi led the Panthers as an individual with three wins. She claimed the 100 butterfly (59.81), 100 backstroke (1:01.08) and the 100 individual medley (1:02.55).
Kristin Karpowicz, Hannah Wander and VanderMeer each recorded two wins. Karpowicz touched the wall first in the 1,000 freestyle (10:49.15) and the 100 free (55.87), while Wander claimed the 50 breaststroke (32.44) and the 100 breaststroke (1:10.35). VanderMeer was victorious in the 50 back (27.68) and the 50 fly (26.14).
Another event triumph came from Courtney Gantt during the 50 free (25.36), while the 200-yard free relay quartet of McKean, Kelly, Gantt and VanderMeer led the field to the wall in 1:40.16.
On the diving boards, Kacey Hertan won the 1-meter diving event with 228.45 points, while Mary Cate Carroll accumulated 219.98 points to earn the 3-meter title.
On the men's side, the 200-yard medley relay team of Brendan Leech, Cody Kim, Will Pannos and Corey Jalbert started the day by winning the event by .01 seconds with a time of 1:37.64. The last event saw the 200-yard freestyle relay of Jalbert, Pannos, Jake Gaughan and Leech touch first in 1:27.99.
Individually, Pannos won the 100 butterfly (53.46), while Mike Chirico claimed the 1-meter (243.40 points) and the 3-meter diving events (242.18 points), respectively.
The Panthers tallied 10 runner-up finishes, highlighted by two each from Charles Quinn and Kim. Quinn touched second in the 50 backstroke (25.46) and 100 individual medley (54.95), while Kim wound up second in the 50 breaststroke (27.43) and 100 breaststroke (1:00.28).
