Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last Saturday, the women’s swim and dive team hosted the annual Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Championship at LeRoy Greason Pool. After a hard-fought day with many top performances, the Polar Bears finished in second place behind Colby College.

In its final regular season meet, Harper Stevenson ’27 started off strong, delivering a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.92. Later that afternoon, Stevenson had another standout performance winning the 500 freestyle with a personal best and NCAA B-cut time of 4:59.38. Finally, to cap off her successful day, Stevenson finished second in the 100 butterfly (57.33) and third in the 200 freestyle relay along with Nina Fearon ’26, Lizzie Walsh ’26 and Ellie Denney ’29.

Stevenson expressed that she and the team entered the meet energized and eager to race, a feeling that only intensified once competition began.

“I personally was psyched for this meet. It’s probably my favorite one,” Stevenson said. “The energy is always high, and I think a lot of my teammates this year, especially underclassmen, got to experience why I love it so much.”

Following her strong showing on Saturday, Stevenson was named NESCAC Women’s Swimming Performer of the Week.

“It’s really exciting and a culmination of a lot of hard work I’ve put in this season. This is something I’ve been shooting for since my first year, and I’ve gotten close a few times, but never fully been recognized as swimmer of the week,” Stevenson said. “It’s a fun accomplishment and gives me a good boost of confidence heading into the NESCAC championships.”

Sydney Lillis ’27 earned first place in the 200 fly with a 2:04.62 finish, crediting the team’s recent training trip over winter break as a key factor in her individual success and the Polar Bears’ overall development.

“It’s a really great opportunity for our team to train really hard but also have a lot of fun together,” Lillis said. “I think it fosters a positive team energy going into the end of our season…. A lot of hard work and hours have gone into the pool, and I really think it’s paying off for me and my teammates.”

Another notable performance came from sophomore diver Ursula von Goeler ’28, who broke the school and LeRoy Greason Pool records for the 1m six dive and 1m 11 dive.

“It was something that I had thought about at the beginning of the season, but I wasn’t sure if it would happen, given that we only had one home meet to break the pool record,” van Goeler said. “But my focus was on the other competition, since there were other great divers competing at the meet.”

Other strong showings include Denney’s pair of second-place finishes in the 50 freestyle (24.17) and 100 freestyle (57.33), Walsh’s gold in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.25, Riley Kopp’s ’29 third place finish in the 1000 freestyle (10:42.99) and Lillian Tetreault’s ’28 third place finishes on both the 1m (228.60) and the 3m (212.6) dives.

As the women’s swimming and diving team wraps up its regular season, the Polar Bears look to finish the season strong at NESCACs next week at Wesleyan University.

Tomorrow, the women’s swim and dive team will cheer the men’s team on as they travel to Colby College for its CBB competition. David Xu ’29 expressed his excitement for the upcoming meet.

“I’m really excited,” Xu said. “The energy from both [teams] was really amazing and honestly, with that type of energy, I’m really hyped to get in the water and just get the chance to suit up and swim fast times … for my first CBBs.”