ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swim team tallied 20 podium finishes and set five championship meet records plus four conference marks and one school record between the second and third days of the 2024 Atlantic East Conference Women's Swimming Championships (Feb. 16-17).
 
St. Mary's College collected nine pieces of hardware – four gold, three silver, and two bronze.
 
SMCM owns a five-point lead over Marymount (Va.) University, the defending conference champion, in the team standings. The Seahawks have amassed 484 points to Marymount's 479. Cedar Crest College has jumped to third with 262 points.

The Aquatics Center in the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center on the campus of St. Mary's College is serving as the host site for the third straight year. Cabrini University, Cedar Crest, Gallaudet University, Immaculata University, Marymount, and Marywood University, along with the Seahawks, are all challenging for the championship crown.

How It Happened
 
FRIDAY
500 Freestyle

• Sophomore Venus Kai Judge (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) clocked a lifetime best of 5:28.95 in the 500 freestyle to claim a silver medal, shaving more than 30 seconds off her seed time of 6:01.22.
• Senior Lilianna Bowman (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) also reached the podium with a fifth-place finish after posting a 5:43.37, knocking off close to 14 seconds from her seed time of 5:57.06.

 
200 Individual Medley

• First-year Kelsie Miller (Potomac, Md./Churchill) earned the No. 1 seed in the finals with her conference and championship meet record of 2:08.25 in the preliminaries. Miller then claimed top honors in the 200 IM in 2:08.76, besting the second-place finisher by 8.30 seconds.
• Miller took down the conference mark of 2:10.63 set by Marymount's Hayley Elizondo on Mar. 1, 2019, while surpassing the previous championship meet record of 2:12.26 set by senior captain Anna Kidd (Arbutus, Md./Mount de Sales) in 2022.
• Senior Katie Stolzenberger (Island Heights, N.J./Allentown) placed seventh with a time of 2:38.01.

 
50 Freestyle

• The 50-freestyle championship meet record was broken three times while Kidd and Miller twice broke the conference record.
• Kidd won the preliminaries with her time of 24.76, surpassing the previous championship meet record of 25.23 set by SMCM's Christina Trnkus in 2022. She then captured the finals of the 50 freestyle with a conference and championship meet record of 24.44.
• Miller then broke Kidd's record of 24.44 as the lead-off on the 200-freestyle relay, posting a 24.11.
• Senior captain Marissa Fields (Clements, Md./Chopticon) picked up a sixth-place finish with a time of 26.95 while senior Kate Holland (Rockville, Md./Rockville) came in eighth in 27.59.
• Sophomore Kate Pass (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) captured the consolation final for ninth with a 27.51.

 
200 Freestyle Relay

• The foursome of Miller, Judge, Fields, and Kidd swam a conference and championship meet record of 1:39.64 to win gold in the 200-freestyle relay.
• The previous conference record of 1:40.53 was set by SMCM on December 2, 2023, while the championship meet record of 1:41.39 had been clocked by Marymount last year.

 
SATURDAY
400 Individual Medley

• Sophomore Bella Ramirez (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) led the Seahawks in the 400 IM with a fourth-place finish in 5:20.80.
• Senior Julia Milner (Middletown, Md./Middletown) came in fifth in 5:21.53.

 
100 Butterfly

• Miller claimed a third gold medal in the 100 butterfly as she touched the pad first in 55.92. She set a school, conference, and championship meet record during the preliminaries with her NCAA B cut of 54.95.
• Miller displaced the 14-year-old school record of 56.63 set by SMCM Hall of Famer, Rachel Hotchko '10 while breaking her own conference record of 56.69 from December 2. She surpassed the championship meet record of 58.96 posted by SMCM's Trnkus in 2022.
• First-year Kaitlyn Soldon (Warrenton, Va./Kettle Run) tallied a seventh-place finish in 1:08.53.

 
200 Freestyle

• Kidd swam a 1:58.59 in the 200 freestyle to garner second place while Judge seized a bronze medal with her third-place time of 2:01.94.
• Bowman added another podium finish with a fifth-place finish in 2:07.63.

 
100 Breaststroke

• The Seahawks picked up four podium finishes in the 100 breaststroke as Holland led the way with her fifth-place finish in 1:14.85.
• Sophomore Kate Pass (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) took sixth in 1:17.29 followed by Stolzenberger in seventh in 1:17.80.
• Milner rounded out the top-eight finishers with her time of 1:18.03.

 
100 Backstroke

• Fields went third in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.41 to claim a bronze medal while Soldon posted a fourth-place finish in 1:07.85.

 
400 Medley Relay

• St. Mary's College claimed silver in this event as the Seahawks came in second in 4:17.81 behind the efforts of Fields, Holland, Judge, and Bowman.

Up Next for the Seahawks

• Feb. 18 at Atlantic East Conference Championships – St. Mary's City, Md. (Aquatics Center) – 10 am (Prelims) / 4:00 pm (Finals)

 
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