The men's and women's swimming and diving teams got off to a strong start in last weekend's home opening meet.
Both the men's and women's teams posted wins against Babson, 173-66 and 195-59, respectively.
The women's team edged out MIT in the last relay to secure a 139-130 win, while the men fell short to the Engineers 179-82.
Head Coach Brad Burnham was pleasantly surprised by the men's and women's strong performances in the meet.
"Our MIT/Babson meet is so early in the season that we usually just look at it as a learning experience," said Burnham. "We have a very young team and many members [are] abroad, but the enthusiasm for the race was there and the meet went very well."
A strong contingent of first years led the Bowdoin women, with Megan Sullivan capturing the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly.
Erin McAuliffe also had a pair of impressive victories in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, while Allison Palmer took first in the 100-yard freestyle and second 50-yard freestyle.
In the diving events, sophomore Kirsten Chmielewski took second place on both the one-meter and three-meter boards to national champion Doria Holbrook of MIT.
The 200-yard freestyle relay squad of senior captain Carrie Roble, Kerry Brodziak '08, Sullivan, and Palmer outswam MIT by 0.04 seconds to a first-place finish.
On the men's side, Matt Kwan '10 swept the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard Individual Medley.
First year Roger Brothers rounded out Bowdoin's successes by finishing second in the same events.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Kwan, Ben Rachlin '08, Josh Kimball '09, and Chris Jacob '09 swam to a first place finish to end the meet. Trailing Babson by half a second, Bowdoin's second team of Rob Rezvani '08, Mike Tillotson '08, Christian Hurst '11, and Matt Seward '11 finished strong in third.
"I was so impressed with the number of great swims and the general sense of excitement," said Burnham.
Burnham has a positive outlook for the season.
"At this time our focus is really on improving technically and developing the base that will carry us through winter break," he said. "I am more than excited to see this team develop and improve over the winter."
Both teams will be in the water this weekend at the MIT Invitational, a two-day meet against Brandeis, Colby, Tufts, Wheaton, and MIT.
On Wednesday, December 5, Bowdoin will play host to NESCAC rival Bates for the first conference meet of the season.