By Jim Fenton
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The clean sweep at the Little East Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships is complete for Bridgewater State University senior Cailey Simard (Haverhill, Mass.).
For the fourth straight year, Simard won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events at the championship meet, going 8-for-8 since her freshman season in 2023.
Simard finished first on the 1-meter board on Saturday at the Boston Sports Institute after winning the 3-meter event on Thursday night at Babson College.
Her score on the 1-meter board was 450.95, and four of her BSU teammates joined her in the top six of the event.
On Thursday, Simard won the 3-meter event with a score of 468.70.
Simard, the Little East Diver of the Year as a freshman, sophomore and junior, will next compete on Feb. 27 at the NCAA Division III Northeast/North Regional Championships at Connecticut College.
She reached the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C., last season, becoming the first female member of the BSU swimming & diving program to advance to the nationals.
Bears freshman Sienna DeLucia (Wallingford, Conn.) was second behind Simard on the 1-meter board Saturday with a score of 418.40 while sophomore Gianna Varady (Highland Park, N.J.) took third with 383.45 points.
Simard, DeLucia and Varady earned All-Little East honors, and DeLucia and Varady will be joining Simard at the NCAA Northeast/North Regional later this month.
The top three placewinners in each individual event as well as the relays garner All-Little East honors.
BSU junior Ava Anderson (Lynn, Mass.) placed fifth in the 1-meter event with 338.25 points while junior Jillian Hallman (Raynham, Mass.) was sixth with 333.75 points.
Through three days, the Bears are in second place with 394 points, trailing only Eastern Connecticut State (605.5).
Rounding out the top six are Keene State (354), Husson (333), Westfield State (319) and the University of New England (309).
Also on Saturday, the BSU 200 medley relay team of senior Julie Remson (Norwalk, Conn.), DeLucia, sophomore Eva Chaves (Raynham, Mass.) and senior Ava Fenton (Monument Beach, Mass.) placed second in 1:54.72.
BSU placed two swimmers in the top five in the 50-yard butterfly.
Fenton earned All-Little East honors with a third-place finish in 27.46. Chaves was fifth in 27.99.
In the 100 backstroke, Remson was sixth with a time of 1:02.31 while DeLucia took sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.26.
The four-day championship meet ends Sunday with preliminary races at 10 a.m. and championship races starting at 4:00 p.m.
