Women’s Swimming Finishes Second At GNAC Championships

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BOSTON, Mass. – Elms College freshman Tessa Dudunake (Northampton, Mass.) won a pair of events and set a new Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship meet record and Simmons College pool record in the 100-yard individual medley helping the Blazers to a second place finish at the 2009 GNAC Championships hosted by Simmons College.

Simmons College scored 305 points to win the meet while Elms broke yesterday’s three-way tie to secure a second place finish with 159 points. Saint Joseph’s College (Maine) finished in third (130), Saint Joseph College (Conn.) earned fourth with 114 points, followed by Husson University and Norwich University with 110 and 106 points respectively.

Dudunake clocked her record-breaking time of 1:06.16 in the 100-yard IM, besting the time 1:07.02 set at the 2008 GNAC Championship meet by Hannah Gajewski of Saint Joseph’s College (Maine). Dudunake’s time in the event also broke the Simmons College pool record of 1:06.56 which was established in 1995.

She also notched a 32.82 in the 50-yard breaststroke to capture her second individual first place finish.

Dudunake teamed with sophomore Ashley Arbo (Kensington, Conn.), and freshmen Chalis Bird (Windsor, Mass.) and Emalee Furtek (Ludlow, Mass.) in the 200-yard medley relay which registered a top time of 2:01.28, besting the time of 2:02.98 held by former Blazers Marie Waterhouse, Liz Walker, Kaity Jo Bryll, and current junior Theresa Pitassi (Naugatuck, Conn.). That GNAC Championship meet record was set in 2007.

The team of Bird, Arbo, Dudunake and Pitassi finished first in the 400-meter freestyle and also set a new GNAC record of 3:56.40, shaving an even three seconds (3:59.40) off the GNAC Championship meet record which was previously held by Simmons and set in 2007.

Arbo earned three second place finishes, including the 50-yard backstroke (30.72), the 200-yard freestyle (2:09.27) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.85).

Bird claimed third place in two events – the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle – with times of 2:11.05 and 58.76 respectively, while sophomore Katie Roberts (Torrington, Conn.) placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:17.39.

Elms also had three swimmers finish in the top five in the 50-yard freestyle as Dudunake secured second place with a time of 26:09, Bird finished in third (26.70), while Furtek captured fifth with a mark of 27.44.

Bird, Arbo, Dudunake and Pitassi teamed together to glide to a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, turning in a time of 1:46.91 to round out the Blazers’ top performances of the day.

Elms returns to the pool on Saturday, Dec. 12 a 1:00 p.m. meet at UMass-Dartmouth.

The 2009 GNAC Swimming & Diving All-Tournament Team (by event):
200 Free Relay- Simmons- Chennelle Jackson, Virginia Bette, Alyssa Musket, Brittany Torelli (GNAC record)
500 Free- Hannah Gajewski, SJM
200 IM- Sarah Wheeler, SJC (GNAC record)
50 Free- Alyssa Musket, Simmons (GNAC record)
100 Fly- Chennelle Jackson, Simmons College
200 Free- Hannah Gajewski, SJM
100 Breast- Anne Vayda, Norwich
50 Fly- Sarah Wheeler, SJC (GNAC, pool record)
200 Back- Amanda Mason, Husson
400 Medley Relay- Simmons- Virginia Bette, Brittany Torelli, Chennelle Jackson, Alyssa Musket
1 Mtr Diving- Kaira King, Simmons College
3 Mtr Diving- Heather O’Connell
200 Medley Relay- Elms- Ashley Arbo, Tessa Dudunake, Emalee Furtek, Chalis Bird (GNAC record)
1000 Free- Hannah Gajewski, SJM
50 Breast- Tessa Dudunake, Elms
100 Back- Virginia Bette, Simmons (GNAC record)
100 Free- Sarah Wheeler, SJC
100 IM- Tessa Dudunake, Elms (GNAC, pool record)
200 Breast- Anne Vayda, Norwich (GNAC record)
200 Fly- Sarah Wheeler, SJC (GNAC record)
50 Back- Alyssa Musket, Simmons College
400 Free Relay- Elms- Chalis Bird, Ashley Arbo, Tessa Dudunake, Theresa Pitassi (GNAC record)