WASHINGTON - It was a tightly contested North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) women's swimming meet here Saturday at the Field House pool as Gallaudet University and Cedar Crest College went into the final event with the outcome up in the air. 

Cedar Crest (2-1, 2-0 NEAC) held a 98-95 score after 11 events as the teams prepared for the 400-yard freestyle relay, the 12th and final event on the docket. The visiting Falcons had three of their four relay swimmers post identical times of one minute and two seconds to build a big lead. Cedar Crest touched the wall first in 4:23.22 to claim 11 team points and win the meet 109-101. Gallaudet (1-6, 0-2 NEAC) had two teams in the relay finish second (4:51.49) and third (6:03.04), respectively, to accumulate six total team points.

GU won four of the 12 events as senior Anna Polivanchuk (Orebro, Sweden) won two events in the 100 butterfly (1:06.53) and 100 backstroke (1:06.29). Fellow senior Brianna Stroud-Williams (Tucker, Ga.) won the 1,000 freestyle as she coasted in at 14:10.69. Junior Naomi Schofield (Syracuse, N.Y.) took first in the 1-meter diving event as she tallied 159.97 points.

Cedar Crest was led by Nithya Lakshminarayanan's first-place finishes in the 200 freestyle (2:17.09) and 500 freestyle (6:06.76) while Maggie Olock was first in the 100 backstroke (1:13.47) and 50 free (24.90) as she just edged Polivanchuk (25.96). Lakshminarayanan and Olock were on the winning 400 freestyle relay team as well.

BISON TRACKS

• This was the third meeting between the two teams during the regular-season
• Last season the Bison lost by 10 points to Cedar Crest, 102-92
• Gallaudet defeated Cedar Crest, 140-46, on Nov. 9, 2013

GALLAUDET PERSONAL RECORDS

* = Set in relay event

UP NEXT
The Bison are off until Saturday, Dec. 5, when they welcome a pair of NEAC teams in SUNY Cobleskill and Wells College for a double dual meet in the Field House pool that begins at 11 a.m.