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NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Keene State College leads the 21-team field at the 2009 New England Intercollegiate Women's Swimming and Diving Championships after the first of three days of competition at the Tripp Athletic Center in North Dartmouth, Mass. The Owls won three individual events-breaking a pair of pool records-and captured each of the relay races. Western Connecticut State University sophomore Megan Dyson (Farmington, Conn.) also sat atop the awards podium as the Little East Conference won five of the six swimming events.

The Owls are in prime position to defend last winter's championship, scoring a meet-best 330 points on Day 1. Bentley University is the only other institution to earn more than 300 points to sit in second position (303). Western Connecticut State University is currently fifth (185), while Eastern Connecticut State University (8th, 159), Plymouth State University (11th, 83), and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (13th, 73) round out the conference contingent.

Under the watchful eye of Head Coach Jack Fabian, Keene State College opened the finals with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Kristine Trutor (Holden, Mass.), classmate Alea Paddock (Newbury, N.H.), classmate Jackie Foster (Goffstown, N.H.), and freshman Jillian Whitaker (Gilford, N.H.) combined to touch-in five seconds ahead of their closest competitors with a winning time of 1:40.65. Eastern Connecticut State University (1:44.91) was edged out by Bentley University for third place.

Each of the Owls' 200-yard freestyle team would earn a New England individual championship this evening. Foster established a new pool record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:06.77, shattering the previous record set by Sarah Kearns in 2005 (5:09.06).Trutor also rewrote the pool meet records with her winning 200-yard backstroke time (2:07.47). Whitaker captured the 50-yard freestyle (24.95), while Paddock outdistanced the 18-person field in the 200-yard individual medley (2:13.65). Keene State College completed the first day of competition in dramatic fashion, setting a new pool record in the 400 yard medley relay. The Owls' were the lone team to touch-in below the four-minute mark, defeating the year-old record set by the Falcons with a time of 3:57.68.

Dyson posted the fastest preliminary heat time in the 50-yard breaststroke and held form in the finals to capture the individual championship with a victorious time of 31.03. Junior Katie Meleg (Danbury, Conn.) was second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:10.45), while freshman Sondra McAdam (Redding, Conn.) placed third in the 100-yard butterfly (59.67) for the Colonials.    

Sophomore Amy Arisco (Wallingford, Conn.) led the Warriors with a second-place performance in the 200-yard individual medley (2:17.09).