MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Williams holds an early lead after day one at the 2008 NESCAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. The defending champion Ephs have accumulated 730 points and sit 164.5 points ahead of second place Middlebury. Amherst, the runner-up at last year’s meet, is third with 538.5 points. Rounding out the top five are Bowdoin in fourth with 292.5 points and Tufts in fifth with 288.

A total of five pool records were set at Wesleyan on Friday. The Middlebury 200-yard freestyle relay team set a new Wesleyan Natatorium record with a 1:35.43 showing, as the Panthers edged Amherst for the 200-yard freestyle relay title by 0.05 seconds.

After breaking the pool record in the 50-yard breaststroke during the morning preliminary session, Colby senior Kelly Norsworthy (West Hartford, Conn.) set another new standard in the evening with a time of 29.65. Junior teammate Kelsey Potdevin (Juneau, Alaska) had a record-breaking time of 27.09 in the 50-yard backstroke, and Tufts senior diver Kendall Swett (Akron, Ohio) set a new mark in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 473.45, just over 13 points shy of the championship record she set at last year’s meet.

Amherst senior Brittany Sasser (Belmont, Mass.), the 2007 NESCAC Swimmer of the Meet, broke the pool and championship record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.97. In her first championship, rookie Kendra Stern (Albuquerque, N.M.) broke a six-year championship record in the 500-yard freestyle by over two seconds with a time of 4:57.42.

The top six finishers in the 50-yard freestyle were all first year swimmers. Williams’ Olivia Card-Childers (Houston, Texas) edged Middlebury’s Emily McDonald (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) for the 50 freestyle title.

Competition resumes on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Wesleyan Natatorium with preliminary races in the morning and championship events in the evening.