Johns Hopkins Women, Wingate Men Win BGMC

The Johns Hopkins women's swimming team claimed its third straight Blue Grass Mountain Conference Championship on Saturday with a 69 point win over Wingate University. It was another solid performance for the Blue Jays as nearly every swimmer posted a season or career best time. Hopkins took over first place on after the second event on Thursday and did not relinquish it.

The final day opened up with a second place finish in the 1650 Free for freshman Kathleen Heslin (Wykoff, NJ/Northern Highlands Regional) with an NCAA D3 B time of 17:40.88. However three Wingate Bulldogs finished in the top eight, bringing Wingate within 15 points of Hopkins. In the next event, the 200 Back, four Blue Jays placed in the top six to push their lead out to 53 points (589-536). Leading the way was junior Erica Pakkala (Lititz, PA/Warwick) winning her third straight 200 Back title with a D3 B time of 2:07.12. Coming in third was junior Kate Hansen (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) (2:09.38), followed by sophomore Robin Schaffer (Dublin, OH/The Columbus School for Girls) in fifth (2:12.38) and junior Megan Zepp (Montgomery Village, MD/Stone Ridge) in sixth (2:21.41).

In the 100 Free, juniors Elissa Stautner (The Woodlands, TX/Oak Ridge), Val Neff-Rasmussen (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) and Jackie Rooney (Ft. Lauderdale, FL/The Culver Academies) finished in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Sophomore Caitlin Dennis (Moorestown, NJ/Merion Mercy Academy) then took third in the 200 Breast in 2:29.48, with freshman Charlotte Floria (North Potomac, MD/Quince Orchard) finishing in eighth (2:35.11).
 

 
   

Freshman Megan Heslin (Wykoff, NJ/Northern Highlands Regional) then claimed her second title of the weekend, winning the 200 Fly in an NCAA D3 B cut time of 2:07.96. Freshman Michele Palopoli (Gwynedd Valley, PA/Germantown Academy) followed in second, also with a B cut time (2:08.86). Classmate MaryClaire Kozlowski (Fairfax, VA/Lake Braddock Secondary) finished in fifth in 2:12.35. Hopkins wrapped up the weekend with a third place showing in the 400 Free Relay. Hansen, Neff-Rasmussen, Rooney and Palopoli swam a time of 3:36.71, a season best time.

Hopkins will now prepare for the 2008 NCAA Championships to be held from March 13 to March 16. The championships will be held in Oxford, OH at Miami University's Corwin Nixon Acquatic Center.