GREENSBORO, N.C. — Bates College claimed three All-American finishes for the second straight day at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The top 16 finishers in each event earn All-American status.
Senior Grace Wenger garnered the Bobcats’ best showing of the NCAA championships so far, reaching the championship final and swimming to a sixth-place finish in the women’s 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.59.
The 200 free was one of two All-American performances by Wenger on Thursday. She teamed with junior Sophie Cassily, freshman Sarah Palmer and freshman Emily Kalvaitis for a 13th-place showing (3:48.29) in the women’s 400 medley relay.
Cassily, Palmer and Kalvaitis swam for Bates’ All-American 200 medley relay on Wednesday.
Bates’ men’s 400 medley relay team of freshman Timothy Johnson, sophomore Marrich Somridhivej, freshman John Weigel and sophomore Max Cory also earned All-American status Thursday with a 15th-place finish (3:18.84).
It is Cory’s second All-American finish in two days, having placed 10th in the 50 freestyle on Wednesday.
In Thursday’s prelims, the men’s 200 freestyle relay (Weigel, Cory, Somridhivej and sophomore Nathaniel Pierce) took 19th, and the women’s team (Wenger, junior Stephanie Tropper, Kalvaitis and senior Marjorie McLeod) came in 21st.
Senior Natalie Young, an All-American in Wednesday’s 200 individual medley, placed 20th in the women’s 400 IM on Thursday. Weigel placed 26th in the men’s 200 freestyle.
MCBSA AWARDS
UMF TRIO HONORED: Three University of Maine at Farmington athletes received weekly honors from the new Maine College Baseball and Softball Association on Thursday.
UMF freshman pitcher Mack Bergen was named the softball Pitcher of the Week and teammate Jojo Daigneault, also a freshman, is the Rookie of the Week.
Bergen struck out 22 batters and allowed only six earned runs in 23 2/3 innings for the Beavers, who are off to a 6-2 start to the season.
Daigneault, who earlier this week was announced as the North Atlantic Conference’s co-Rookie of the Week, recorded team-highs of 13 hits, including a double and three multi-hit games, and seven RBIs. She also stole four bases. She compiled a .481 batting average, .516 on-base percentage and 1.035 on-base plus slugging percentage.
UMF baseball player Matt Marquis, a freshman from Monmouth Academy, was named the Maine College Baseball and Softball Association Rookie of the Week. He also received the NAC Rookie of the Week honor.
Marquis batted .417 with a .462 on-base percentage, scored six runs and drove in two.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
BATES THRICE BEATEN: The Bobcats played nearly three full games of close softball in Clermont, Florida. One was a complete-game pitchers’ duel, one spiraled out of control near the end and the third went extra innings. Bates (2-7) lost all three.
In their first game, Bates College fell 2-1 as Delaney Rankin and Smith College’s (6-4) Emilie Doty went the distance for their squads.
Rankin struck out eight batters and allowed only three hits and one walk in six innings for Bates. Both runs scored on her were unearned.
Doty (4-1) allowed only one hit and one earned run while striking out five and walking two batters in seven innings.
Zariya Anderson tripled and Rachel Liazos doubled, while Maya Lee and Grace Householter each singled for the Bobcats. Kennedy Jones drove in Bates’ only run, a sixth-inning sacrifice fly that scored Anderson.
Lexi Ballam scored both of Smith College’s runs.
In Bates’ second game, Wisconsin-Whitewater turned another tight contest into a rout with a seven-run top of the sixth inning to beat the Bobcats 10-1 in six innings.
The Warhawks (8-0) scored two runs in the first and one in the second, then were held scoreless for the next three innings.
The Bobcats cut the deficit to 3-1 when Sarah Cooke scored in the third. Cooke singled twice for two of Bates’ five hits. Lee, Anderson and Ella Maher each added a single.
The Bobcats lost the third game Thursday 2-1 to Worcester State in eight innings.
Rankin (1-4) pitched another gem for Bates, holding the Lancers (5-6) to four hits and one earned run and not giving up any walks in 7 2/3 innings. She also struck out three.
The Bobcats out-hit Worcester 8-4. Anderson led Bates with three hits and Jones had two.
The game was scoreless until a sacrifice fly by Jones gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth.
The Lancers tied the game in the bottom half of the inning when Emma Lanpher’s triple brought home Bailey Tammaro. Lanpher drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly that scored Cali Brouillard.
Emily Bartlett pitched all eight innings for Worcester State. She fanned seven and walked two.
Four of Bates’ nine games this week have ended with one-run margins.
The Bobcats finish their Florida slate Friday against Union.
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