Fredericksburg, Va. – St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swimming opened up the 2016 portion of their schedule at the University of Mary Washington Saturday afternoon. The Seahawks (5-5, 2-2 CAC) dropped a 157-47 Capital Athletic Conference decision to No. 23 Mary Washington (8-0, 4-0 CAC).
The foursome of senior captain Karlie Straight (Ocean City, Md./Stephen Decatur), first-year Hailley Baughman (Lineboro, Md./Manchester Valley), sophomore Rachel Sonnenberg (Derwood, Md./Magruder), and first-year Samantha Schoenecker (Dallas, Texas/Woodrow Wilson) posted a second-place finish in 1:58.13.
Senior captain Zoe McIlmail (Frederick, Md./Urbana) led the Seahawks in the 200 freestyle with a second-place finish in 2:00.62 while senior captain Cara Machlin (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) placed fifth in 2:03.84. Machlin picked up a silver medal in the 100 butterfly in 1:02.18 followed by McIlmail in third place in 1:04.25.
First-year Elizabeth Valenti (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) paced St. Mary's in the 500 freestyle with a second-place finish in 5:31.95 followed by Sonnenberg in third in 5:48.59.
Junior Samantha Liming (Silver Spring, Md./JFK) earned a third-place finish in the 1,000 freestyle in 11:55.38 while Sonnenberg placed fifth in 12:05.04. Valenti notched a bronze medal in the 400 individual medley with a time of 5:02.81 followed by senior Katie Andersen (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) in fourth (5:25.00).
Baughman collected a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.09 while Liming came in fifth (1:22.44). McIlmail, Machlin, Valenti, and sophomore Elizabeth Straathof (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) guided the Seahawks to a bronze medal in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:45.73.
In the 50 freestyle, Straathof placed fourth in the 50 freestyle in 26.26 followed by Andersen in fifth place (27.28). Straathof led St. Mary's in the 100 freestyle as well with another fourth-place finish (58.05) followed by Baughman in fifth (1:00.60).
Straight tallied a fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.55 followed by sophomore Nicole Lertora (Olney, Md./Blake) in fifth with a time of 1:09.34.
The Seahawks will be back in action in two weeks when St. Mary's welcomes Salisbury University to the Aquatics Center at the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center on Saturday, January 30 for the regular-season finale. Meet starts at 1:00 p.m.
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