LANCASTER, Pa. – The 400-yard medley relay team of sophomore
Julia Banker (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett), sophomore
Vanessa Fry (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug), sophomore
Brooke Bailey (Midlothian, Va./Trinity Episcopal School) and senior
Lauren Paules (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood Area) won the bronze medal at the 2026 Centennial Conference Swimming Championships, hosted by Franklin & Marshall held Thursday night through Sunday afternoon at McGinness Pool inside the Kunkel Aquatics Center. The Shorewomen, who finished seventh out of nine squads, achieved two school records over the four-day event.
2026 Centennial Conference Championships
Medal Winning Relay
- The 400-yard medley relay of Banker (backstroke), Fry (breaststroke), Bailey (butterfly) and Paules (freestyle) picked up the bronze medal on Friday night in 3:58.18. Banker's leadoff time in the backstroke portion of the event of 59.77 slides her up to third all-time in squad history in the 100 backstroke. All four earned their first career medal at the championships in the race.
- It was the first time Washington medaled in the event since winning gold at the 2017 Championships as
Ellen Maxwell '17,
Jenni Clune '18,
Lindsay Wiecki '20 and
Katie Gorman '18 won the relay with a school record time of 3:57.62.
- Prior to Friday night, the last time any member of the Shorewomen medaled was
Teresa Draves '22 in 2022 who secured bronze in the 200 breaststroke in 2:23.75, which is the program's best mark in the event.
School Records
- Bailey broke her own school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.90 in the B Final to earn a 10th place finish on Friday night. On Saturday morning in the preliminary round of the 100 butterfly, the sophomore moved into second place all-time in team history in 57.47. In the B Final of the 100 butterfly on Saturday evening, she finished 10th in 57.49. On Sunday in the 200 butterfly, the sophomore had a fifth place performance in 2:08.56, improving her third best time in squad history by .33 of a second.
- Banker improved on her school record time in the 400-yard individual medley on Saturday evening with a time of 4:34.52, besting her mark by 1.63 seconds which was set this past November in the same pool. She won the B Final and secured a ninth-place finish in the event. On Sunday in the 200 backstroke, the sophomore was 12th in 2:09.44.
Shorewomen Other Individual Performers Who Scored Points
- Fry placed sixth in the 200 breaststroke on Sunday with a time of 2:25.23, which gives her the fifth fastest mark in team history. The sophomore earned 12th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.44 on Saturday evening. In the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke, Fry moved into fifth place in program history with a time of 1:07.11.
- Paules landed in 12th in the 1650 freestyle on Sunday (18:51.37), finished 15th in the 200-freestyle (1:58.89) on Saturday evening and placed 16th in the 500-freestyle with a time of 5:20.37 on Friday night.
-
Maggie Boyle netted 16th in the 1650 freestyle (20:49.87).
Other Shorewomen Top Relays
- The quartet of
Mollie Kravitz-Yoffee,
Ellie Seip,
Jordyn Gutshall and
Gabby Bonds earned 20th in the 200-yard medley relay in 2:00.49 on Thursday evening.
- In the 800 freestyle relay on Thursday night, the team of Bailey, Paules, Banker and Bonds took 12th in 7:56.93. Bailey's leadoff time of 1:57.05 places her eighth all-time in program history in the 200 freestyle.
- Bonds, Paules, Seip and Seale guided the Shorewomen to a seventh-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:41.71) on Saturday evening.
- Bonds, Bailey, Banker and Paules took seventh-place in the 400 freestyle relay (3:40.47) on Sunday.
Notes
- #13 Swarthmore won the event with 819 points followed by #14 Johns Hopkins who notched 803.5 points. Third place was Gettysburg with 626 points and Ursinus gained fourth with 299 points. Five through nine respectively were host Franklin & Marshall (259 points), Dickinson (231.5), Washington (189), Bryn Mawr (141) and McDaniel (104).
- Sunday was one session instead of two due to an impending winter storm.
- The lone senior for the 2025-26 Shorewomen was Paules.
