CAZENOVIA, N.Y - The Husson Eagles outdueled Maine Maritime to capture their third consecutive North Atlantic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championship on Sunday at the Cazenovia College Aquatics Facility. The Eagles and Mariners traded the lead several times during the evening session, but key performance in the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, clinched the title for Husson.

Husson finished the championship with 582.5 points while the Mariners concluded the meet with 563 points. Gordon (404.5), Cazenovia (191), and SUNY Delhi (155) rounded out the top five teams in the standings.

The Eagles entered the final day of competition trailing the Mariners by 34 points and cut the MMA advantage to 27 points following the 200-yard medley relay and the 1000-yard freestyle. Husson's A relay team of senior Abbie Howe, graduate student Ava Emery, junior Kayla Payson and sophomore Rachel Hand combined to win the event with a new school record time of 1:56.98. Sophomore Grace Rocheleau, sophomore Erin Madden, senior Hannah Soutter and senior Sydney Jordan pushed the Eagles' B team to a seventh place finish with a time of 2:05.89. Payson won the NAC title in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:35.85 and freshman Maggie Poulin (12:58.10) and sophomore Kat Christensen (14:58.83) posted seventh and eighth place finishes.

Hand and Gordon's sophomore Gina Ouellete tied for first-place in the 100-yard butterfly when they both hit the wall in 1:04.30. Soutter added a third-place effort and with Hand's performance added 26.5 points to help Husson trim the Mariners lead to a half of a point.

Husson took a 7.5 points lead following a fifth-place finish by freshman Emma Thomas (2:15.99), a seventh by Jordan (2:19.81), an eighth by Poulin (2:22.12) and a ninth by Christensen (2:36.32) in the 200-yard freestyle.

The Eagles maintained a slight advantage (1.5 points) following the 200-yard breaststroke after Madden claimed the NAC title with a 2:47.91 and MMA's sophomore Sage Dentremont and junior Elizabeth Cashman added 22 points to the Mariners' total.

Maine Maritime regained the lead (9.5 points) following a 32 point gain by Dentremont, junior Megan Durrua and Cashman in the 50-yard breaststroke. Emery won the event with a 34.31, while freshman Riley Mahoney placed eighth with a time of 59.92.

The lead changed hands again following the 100-yard backstroke. Hand (1:03.14) and Howe (1:05.25) swept the top two places and was followed by Rochelau (1:10.33) and Soutter (1:11.96) in fourth and fifth to help Husson take a 23.5 point advantage.

Madden's (2:25.02) and Emery's (2:25.66) one-two finish in the 200-yard individual medley, followed by a 3-4-5 finish by the Mariners cut the Husson lead to 15.5 points going into the final individual event of the meet.

Thomas (28.56), Mahoney (35.57) and freshman Lily Butler (36.52) combined to pick up 17 points for the Eagles in the 50-yard freestyle after finishing fifth, tenth and 11th, respectively. However, freshman Ellie Brewer's victory and sophomore Natasha Kopeck's fourth-place finish in the event helped Maine Maritime shrink the Eagles' advantage to 9.5 points, 536.5 to 527, heading into the final event of the championship, the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The Eagles clinched the title when their B relay team of Thomas, Howe, Soutter and Jordan touched the wall in first place in the B final heat of the 400-yard freestyle relay. Payson, Madden, Emery and Hand put the icing on the top with a winning time in the A final of 3:53.14 to claim the NAC title in the event.

This concludes the 2022-23 season for the Husson University women's swimming & diving team.