PISCATAWAY, N.J.- The Hunter College women's swim team finished in fifth place in a field of nine at the Metropolitan Swimming Championships held this weekend at Rutgers.
The Hawks were led by City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Rookie of the Year Grace Valette, who was also named Rookie of the Meet. Valette broke four program records over the course of the meet, in addition to two conference records, while earning a pair of individual gold medals. She opened the meet alongside Lily Bradshaw, Lian Winter and Cara Chang in the 200yd freestyle relay, where the team placed third with a combined time of 1:44.24. In Valette's opening leg of the relay, she broke the 50yd freestyle school record with a time of 24.93. She followed with a first-place finish in the 500yd freestyle race, setting another program record as she clocked in at 5:22.73.
On the meet's second day, Valette continued to stand out with another CUNYAC and school record in the 200yd freestyle, finishing in 1:57.22 and breaking her own record set earlier this year. Again, this time came in a relay, as she teamed with Winter, Chang and Parivanabonu Makhmadalieva for a team time of 8:37.00, good for a second-place overall finish. She grabbed her second individual first-place finish of the meet in the 100yd backstroke with a time of 1:00.38.
On the final day of the meet, the Colorado native took second in the 1650yd freestyle race in 19:58.41 and closed out the meet with yet another conference and program record, this time in the 100yd freestyle with a time of 53.33. This came in Valette's leg of the 400yd freestyle relay as she teamed again with Bradshaw, Winter and Chan. The team placed third overall with a combined time of 3:46.64.
Winter also had a standout meet. In addition to her role in relays, she took home silver in the 200yd butterfly, touching the wall in 2:37.28. She also posted a career-best time in the 100yd butterfly, where she placed fourth overall with a time of 1:02.69. Another personal best came in the 200yd IM, where she finished fifth with a time of 2:29.59, behind fourth-place finisher Chang, who also posted a career-best time of 2:26.9. Chang also took fifth in the 100yd freestyle at 56.39.
