LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College women's swimming and diving team, on the strength of 11 school records, had the second-best finish in school history at the New England Division III swimming and diving championships, held Feb. 20-22 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

Leading the way for the Bobcats was senior co-captain Denby Johnson of Chanhassen, Minn. Johnson broke all six Bates freestyle records, in distances ranging from 50 to 1,650 yards. She earned All-New England honors in five events. Johnson's best performance was in the 200-yard freestyle, where she second with a time of 1:55.61 and qualified for the NCAA Division III championships March 12-14 at Principia College in St. Louis, Mo. Johnson was named All-New England in the 1,650 freestyle with a fourth-place time of 17:43.54, also a NCAA qualifying time. She was part of the Bobcats' two All-New England freestyle relay teams: the 200 (fifth place, 1:41.99) and the 400 (eighth place, 3:41.46). Johnson also established school records in the 50- and 100-yard backstroke as part of the 200- yard medley relay team.

Two other Bobcats had big days as individuals. First-year swimmer Pamela Murchie of Westbrook, Maine, earned All-New England honors in the 50-yard butterfly, placing fifth with a school-record time of 27.49. Murchie placed 12th in the 100-yard individual medley (1:05.14) and 15th in the 100 fly (1:02.64). Also setting a school record with an 11th place finish in the 50-yard breaststroke (32.73) was sophomore Liz Fey of Westport, Conn.

Bates scored 466.5 points at the New England meet, more than doubling their score from 1997. The Bobcats' only better performance was a sixth place finish in 1994.

BATES COLLEGE NEW ENGLAND DIV. III CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCES


Athlete			Event		Time		Place		
Denby Johnson		50 free		   25.02	200 free relay leg
			100 free	   53.69	400 free relay leg
			200 free	 1:55.61	2nd *@ 
			500 free	 5:13.06	9th *		
			1000 free	11:44.99	last 1000 yards of 1650*
			1650 free	17:43.54	4th *@ 
			50 back		   28.78	200 medley relay leg
			100 back	 1:01.40	400 medley relay leg
	
Pam Murchie		50 fly		27.49		5th *@
						
Liz Fey			50 breast	32.73		11th *

Relay			Athletes	Time		Place
200 free		Johnson		1:41.99		5th @
			Murchie
			Kara McKeever
			Gudrun Mirick	

400 free		Johnson		3:46.61		8th @
			Laura Hardester
			Murchie
			Mirick

800 free		Mirick		8:10.39		7th @
			Wendy Zimmerman
			Hardester
			Johnson

200 medley		Johnson		1:53.24		in trials *
			Fey
			Mirick
			Murchie		

400 medley		Meghan Shelley	4:10.55		6th @
			Fey
			Murchie
			McKeever


* Bates Record
@ All-New England
  NCAA Qualifier