INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The final day of the 2018 NCAA Div. III championships was much like the first three days for the Williams College women's swimming and diving team — a lot of very good performances and one last national champion.

 

The Ephs were just that consistent over their time at the Indiana University Natatorium. They were rewarded for that consistent greatness with a third place team finish. Williams finished with 412 points, 27 better than fourth-place Denison. The final night of championships saw first year Laura Westphal win another with a great swim in the mile, senior Emma Waddell grab another second-place finish, Caroline White take home a second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 400 free relay team end the meet on a high note with a fifth-place swim. 

 

"The women were consistent all week," Ephs head coach Steve Kuster said. "Tonight, Laura Westphal had a terrific mile and Ali McNamara followed up with her second Top 8 finish out here. Caroline White got her second second-place finish and Emma Waddell capped off a truly fantastic career in the 100 free and by anchoring the 400 free relay. The Eph women really came to play and the third-place finish was truly a team effort."

 

In the 1650 free, Westphal was sensational, knocking off over 18 seconds off her seed time to win the race in 16 minutes, 35.20 seconds. McNamara picked up 11 team points with her eighth-place finish. She had a time of 17:01.72. Waddell followed up a strong swim in the 100 free preliminaries (50.25 seconds) with a sub-50-second final, placing second in 49.72 seconds, just off the winning time of 49.29 seconds. White lived up to her billing in the 200 breaststroke, swimming a 2:13.34 in the morning and following that up with a 2:13.45 swim in the championship final, which was good for second-place. 

 

The 400 free relay team starred in the meet's final event. The quartet of Rollie Grinder, Madeline Downs, Westphal and Waddell bettered its seed time and its preliminary time by placing fifth in 3:24.71. Waddell's anchor leg 100 was the second-fastest in the final at 49.79. 

 

Men’s Basketball

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The Williams College men's swimming and diving team used three fantastic performances in the mile and a solid race bt its 400 free relay team Saturday night to solidify its hold on 10th place at the 2018 Div. III national championships at the Indiana University Natatorium.

 

The Eph men finished with 149 points, 37 points ahead of 11th place University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. 

 

The men came up with three very good performances in the championship final of the mile Saturday. Jamie Lovette finished fourth, shaving off nearly five seconds from his seed time to swim the championship final in 15:32.93. Jacks Karofsky came in sixth with a time of 15:38.16 and sophomore Andrew Trunsky shaved more than a second of his seed time and placed seventh with a time of 15:39.68 as the Ephs picked up a whopping 40 points in that event. 

 

In the 400 free relay, seniors Mike Cassidy and Tim Kostolansky swam their final race as Ephs, and they made it count. Along with Curtis Maher and Lovette, the Ephs swam to a 12th-place finish with a time of 3:02.53.

 

Softball

CLERMONT, Fla. — The Williams College softball team had its toughest day of a 16-game, 12-day trip Sunday as the Ephs dropped an early morning game to St. Thomas, 9-6, then dropped a 3-2 decision to Luther College.

 

Williams is now 9-3. The Ephs play Kalamazoo Monday at 9 a.m. and St. Olaf Monday at 11:30 a.m. before concluding their trip Tuesday. 

 

The Ephs fell behind St. Thomas 1-0 before rallying for three runs in the bottom of the third of the first game. Jennifer Hickey started things when she reached on a one-out error. A Jess Kim grounder resulted in Hickey beating the throw to second to put two Ephs on with one out. After Lexi Curt lined out to shortstop, Rebecca Duncan smoked a two-run double to left to give Williams the lead. Kirstin Mapes followed with an RBI-single to center for a 3-1 Eph advantage. 

 

The Tommies answered back immediately with six runs in the top of the fourth, parlaying three walks, two hits and two Eph errors into a six-run inning that gave them a 7-3 lead. Jenna Beeso had the big blow, a bases-clearing three-run double off Eph starter Mapes. 

 

Williams rallied with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to climb within one run at 7-6. In the fifth, Kim opened the inning by racing all the way to third on an error. Curt scored her with a sacrifice fly to left. With two outs, Mapes lined a double to center and scored on Margo Back's single back up the middle. In the sixth, Riley Salvo reached on an error and Casey Pelz singled, putting runners on first and second with no outs. After a forceout, Kim rifled a double to center to score Pelz and send Jennifer Hickey to third. Curt then hit a liner to left for the second out and, on the play, Hickey was thrown out at home. 

 

St. Thomas' pitcher Isabelle Marketon came on in the seventh and retired the Ephs in order to end the game. 

 

Mapes was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Ephs. 

 

In the second game, Luther jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off the Ephs for the win. In the Williams' sixth, three consecutive singles by Kim, Curt and Duncan loaded the bases with on outs. Mapes popped up to first, and on the play, Duncan was doubled off of first and Kim tagged and scored. Hickey ran for Curt and Beck delivered her home with a single up the middle. But the next batter struck out to end the frame. In the Ephs' seventh, Pelz drew a one-out walk, but could not advance beyond first base as the game ended.

 

Duncan was given her first loss of the season. She allowed eight hits over six innings and three runs, all earned. She did not walk a batter and struck out eight.