Hounds Take Fourth WCC Championship - Ferris Swimmer of the Meet

Hounds Take Fourth WCC Championship - Ferris Swimmer of the Meet

THE BASICS:

-Event: Worcester City Championship (WCC) 

-Results: 1st of 4 Teams

-Location: Worcester, Mass. (@ WPI)

-The Lead: The Assumption College women's swimming team claimed its fourth straight Worcester City Championship on Saturday night with a total score of 1,183 points. The Hounds broke nine meet records while senior Rachel Ferris (Stephentown, N.Y. / Berlin) was named Swimmer of the Meet for her impressive efforts.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

-Ferris earned Swimmer of the Meet honors after claiming three first-place individual victories, two of which marked new WCC records, along with helping the Hounds to two relay wins.

-Ferris' first win came in the 100 breaststroke in which she clocked a time of 1:07.11, topping junior Rachel Gagnon's (Tolland, Conn. / Tolland) previous record of 1:08.71. Gagnon placed second in the event with her time of 1:10.36 while freshman Mikayla Campbell (Marshfield, Mass. / Marshfield) also earned a top-five spot with her time of 1:11.81, good for fifth place.

-Ferris also broke the WCC record in the 200 breaststroke with her time of 2:29.77, surpassing the previous record of 2:30.75. She broke the record of previous Assumption swimmer Caroline Rose with her performance and was followed by freshman Bailee Day (Stoneham, Mass. / Stoneham) in second (2:34.28) and junior McKenzie Johnson (Goffstown, N.H. / Goffstown) (third, 2:34.55).

-Ferris' third individual victory came in the 50 freestyle in which she clocked a time of 25.41. She also helped posted two first-place relay performances including in the 400 medley relay (4:02.03), with senior Victoria Weber (Augusta, Maine / Cony), freshman Ali Petrozza (North Andover, Mass. / Austin Preparatory School) and junior Tricia Lee (Norwood, Mass. / Norwood), and in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.59) with junior Allie Wuerfl (Wayland, Mass. / Wayland), Weber and freshman Morgan Nicholls (East London, South Africa / Clarendon).

-Sophomore Niamh Morgan (Bettystown, Ireland / Sacred Heart School) notched an impressive three WCC records on the weekend. She finished first in the 200 IM in just the second event of the competition, registering a time of 2:11.23 to break her own previous record of 2:12.10. Morgan was followed by Weber (second, 2:14.95) and Petrozza (third, 2:15.90).

-Morgan also broke the 400 IM record, clocking a time of 4:37.45 to break her own record of 4:40.86 before breaking the 200 backstroke in 2:02.77. Her 200 back record surpassed that of senior Janelle McDonald (Lakeville, Mass. / Middleboro) (2:09.32).

-Freshman Shannon Quirk (Wakefield, Mass. / Wakefield Memorial), who has been enjoying an outstanding inagural season, broke two individual records of her own this weekend. She claimed the 1650 freestyle in a time of 17:43.50, surpassing the previous record of 18:02.24.

-Quirk also shattered the 500 freestyle record, touching the wall in 5:08.89, to break the previous record of 5:15.06 held by former Hound Monique Haney.

-Weber broke a record of her own to cap off her final Worcester City Championship performance with her time of 58.67 in the 100 butterfly. She broke her own record of 1:00.12 and was followed in second place by sophomore Courtney Barr (Waltham, Mass. / Matignon), who touched in 1:00.46.

-Weber also helped the final event of the weekend finish strong and break yet another WCC record. The senior joined with Wuerfl, Lee and Morgan to claim the gold medal in the 400 freestyle relay with their time of 3:39.14 to break another previous Hound record of 3:39.69 set last year.

-Additional individual gold-medal performances on the weekend include Lee's time of 1:58.41 in the 200 freestyle, Weber's first in the 100 backstroke (59.82) and Wuerfl's 100 freestyle victory in 55.34.

-In the relay events, the Hounds also claimed the 800 freestyle relay in 7:54.17 (Quirk, Lee, Wuerfl, and junior Rachel Lanam (Sebastian, Fla. / Sebastian River)) as well as the 200 medley relay in 1:51.53 (Weber, Gagnon, Barr, Nicholls).

 

BEHIND THE RESULTS:

-Assumption earned the win with a score of 1,183 points, followed by Holy Cross (907), WPI (821) and Clark (412).

-Overall, the Hounds claimed an impressive 52 top-five performances on the weekend.

-Holy Cross had won the Worcester City title each year since the competition's inception in 2005, until the Hounds claimed the victory in 2013. Assumption has brought home the trophy the last four years in a row.

-With the victory, Assumption claims the Callie Taffe Trophy in memory of Callie Taffe. Taffe was an outstanding competitor and school record holder at Holy Cross who earned ALAW All-American honors in 1981.

-The competition marks the Hounds first of 2016 and their first off of their winter training trip over the holiday break.

 

UP NEXT:

-The Hounds have one final competition before hosting the 2016 Northeast-10 Championships. Assumption will travel to Bridgeport on Saturday, Jan. 23, before kicking of the NE-10 Championships on Thursday, Feb. 4 at WPI. The Hounds look to defend their two-time champion status over the four-day event.

 

STAY CONNECTED:

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