ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's swimming & diving team began its 2023-24 campaign with a dual meet, hosting Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon from the McLane Natatorium.
 
The Saxons (0-1, 0-0 Empire 8) fell to the Tigers (1-1, 0-1 Liberty League), fell 225-66 on Saturday afternoon. "Despite the score at the end of the meet, I am pretty excited about how we performed today," Head Coach Brian Striker '00 said. "We have a lot of new student-athletes who got their first meet under their belt, some of which did a great job! Many of the upper-class swimmers and divers have set themselves up in a better place now than a year ago. RIT is a nationally-ranked program and we were able to give them some good races. We do, of course, have work to do and holes to fill, but I thought today gave us a good starting point for the mission that we are on."
 
Alexandra Simmons (Danbury, CT/Danbury) got the first individual points for the Saxons as she took third in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:55.10. Mia Spencer (Omaha, NE/Omaha Central) earned the first individual second place finish, swimming a 2:06.96 in the 200-yard freestyle.
 
Kamila Roman (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) took second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:28.12. Sarah Anderson (Wayne, PA/Radnor) took third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.78. She also took third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.70.
 
Maureen Derry (Asheville, NC/Asheville) placed third in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:30.40, just edging out the third best Tiger backstroke swimmer by 1.56. Spencer added another second place finish shortly after, clocking a time of 2:43.58 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Simmons continued her strong performance in the distance events, finishing third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:14.98.
 
Roman, just like her 200-fly, took second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.53, just missing the top spot as a swimmer from RIT swam a 1:01.35 to capture the win.
 
Spencer took third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:25.63.
 
The Saxons will next host University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Friday, October 27 at 6:00pm.