WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State swimming and diving enjoyed unprecedented success at the 2018 NEISDA Championship meet, headlined by two New England titles from Kelsey Johnstone (Westfield HS/Southwick, Mass.), and the Owls set a baker's dozen school records en route to a team fourth-place finish at the 20-team meet held at the University of Rhode Island's Tootell Aquatics Center Thursday through Sunday.

"I don't think we've ever had a meet quite like this," said Owls head coach Dave Laing. "Sometimes you might set two or three of those marks but a dozen is unheard of."

The meet got off to a fast start for the Owls in Thursday night's session, as junior Shannon Fitzsimmons (Andover, Mass.) led off the 800 free relay with a record 200 yard split of 2:00.96, and Emma Colcord (Landmark/ Andover, Mass.), Jordan Baker (Minnechaug/Wilbraham, Mass.), and Johnstone completed a record-breaking effort with a time of 8:17.09.

"The team really came together," said Laing. "We were standing on the deck on Thursday evening and the team set a goal to be in the top four and accept nothing less, and did a cheer. Then we started out with two records, and the momentum just kept going as a team."

Johnstone won the 100 breaststroke in a school record time of 1:06.09, and senior teammate Tia Pariseau (St. Peter Marian/Holden, Mass.) was fifth in the event in 1:09.14, as the duo paired to score 57 points in the event.

Johnstone doubled up by winning the New England title in the 200 breaststroke with a school-record mark of 2:23.43, missing an NCAA qualifying cut by just 7/10ths of a second.

Johnstone nearly tripled at the meet, as she placed second in the 200 individual medley in 2:11.43, narrowly getting touched out at the wall for the win.

Other top results for the Owls came from junior Monique Groux (Agawam, Mass.), who placed third in the 1-meter diving and second in the 3-meter diving, and Fitzsimmons who placed fourth in the 500 freestyle and third in the 1000 freestyle, both in school-record times. Freshman Kait Kelly (Minnechaug/Hampden, Mass.) added a third-place finish in the 100 individual medley.

"Overall we had 18 personal best times, and in most cases where we set a school record, it was actually set in the preliminaries and then lowered again in the finals," said Laing. "We swam our best in the finals"

Simmons College, the only team to beat the Owls in a dual meet this season, won the team scoring with 1504 points, followed by Roger Williams (1465), Keene State (1083) Westfield (796) and Eastern Connecticut (625.5).

Swimmers who finish in the top eight in their individual events earn All-New England Honors; Relays in the Top four are also conveyed All-New England status. Seven Owls athletes finished with at least one All-New England honor.

"It's fun to stand back and see our student athletes enjoy so much success," said Laing. "And we return almost everyone next year. (Among the swimmers who scored at the NEISDA meet) we only lose Tia; of course she's a pretty heavy hitter but we have a strong group who will be coming back."

Westfield State Women's Swimming and Diving -
School Records Set at NEISDA Championships (Feb. 15-18, 2018)

800 Free Relay Shannon Fitzsimmons, Emma Colcord, 8:17.09
Jordan Baker, Kelsey Johnstone

200 Freestyle Shannon Fitzsimmons 2:00.96

500 Freestyle Shannon Fitzsimmons 5:19.40

200 Free Relay Tia Pariseau, Alex Frazier 1:43.43
Jordan Baker, Kait Kelly

200 Ind. Medley Kelsey Johnstone 2:11.43

400 Medley Relay Kait Kelly, Kelsey Johnstone 4:09.32
Shannon Fitzsimmons, Tia Pariseau

200 Medley Relay Kait Kelly, Kelsey Johnstone 1:53.44
Shannon Fitzsimmons, Tia Pariseau

100 Backstroke Kait Kelly 1:01.86

100 Breaststroke Kelsey Johnstone 1:06.09

1000 Freestyle Shannon Fitzsimmons 10:56.00

200 Breaststroke Kelsey Johnstone 2:23.43

400 Free Relay Tia Pariseau, Shannon Fitzsimmons 3:42.57
Kait Kelly, Kelsey Johnstone

50 Backstroke Kait Kelly 29.05

Full Meet Results