On Saturday afternoon, the University of Vermont women’s swimming and div-ing team bade farewell to lone senior Alaina Dickason in exemplary fashion, lap-ping Providence College 176-108 at the Frank D. Forbush Natatorium. Led by the record break-ing performances of fresh-men incendiaries Molly Mac-Millan and Colleen Clark, the Cats secured the most team victories in a season since 1981, finishing the 2006-2007 campaign 11-5.With a slew of splash rid-den, squeaky-footed fam-ily, friends and classmates looking on, the Cats quickly set the tone for what was to come: utter domination. In the third event, Clark did her best Michael Phelps impression by crushing both her opponents and the record books in the 200 free, finish-ing a UVM pool best 1:54.94.MacMillan quickly fol-lowed Clark with a record-breaking performance of her own. Displaying the same reckless ferocity that recent-ly earned her America East and ECAC Women’s Swim-ming Performer of the Week, MacMillan shattered the pool record for the 100 backstroke event with a time of 59.16. Jubilation filled the humid, chlorinated air as MacMillan exited the pool to an echoing chorus of applause.Exhibiting both the talent and depth of the squad, fel-low freshman Johanna Kos won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:13.14. Another freshman, Catherine Solsvig, took home the 1 meter dive crown with a score of 206.02.Not to be outdone, a rash of sophomores littered the victory lane as well. Lauren Honrath captured the 1000 free event with a time of 10:49.71. In addition, classmates Ashley Gillepsie and Eryka Karz were victorious in the 200 breaststroke (2:30.19) and 100 butterfly (1:00.78) re-spectively.Despite being Senior Day, the dynamic freshmen duo of MacMillan and Clark stole the show. Both rewarded the support of head coach Gerry Cournoyer by capturing yet another set of unparalleled victories. MacMillan rewrote the 500 freestyle record books with a time of 5:07.84 while Clark secured her second first place finish of the day by winning the 100 free in 53.42.”I am very pleased with our total performance today,” Cournoyer said. “We end the regular season at 11-5 with a strong showing that will give us confidence heading into the conference champion-ships.”The America East Cham-pionships begin on Feb. 8, 2007 in Boston, Mass.
