NORTH DARTMOUTH, MASS. 12/4/10 -Keene State College won nine of the 16 events to capture the program's fifth consecutive and eighth overall Little East Women's Swimming and Diving Championship this afternoon at the Tripp Center Natatorium on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The Owls set five championship meet records and posted two NCAA Division III provisional qualifying times to eclipse the 440-point barrier (449) for the sixth straight season.

"It's a great accomplishment to win five straight conference championships," said KSC Coach Jack Fabian. "We were able to spread out swimmers out and everybody did their job.  We have some swimmers who are LEC veterans, but we also had some freshmen who really stepped up today."

The Owls were led by veterans' juniors Maureen O'Leary (Nashua, N.H.) and Jillian Whitaker (Gilford, N.H.) and sophomore Kaila Umbarger (Chelmsford, Mass.).  The trio was double winners. O'Leary won the 100 fly (57.80) and the 200 fly (2:12.92), Whitaker won the 100 breast (1:07.11) and 200 breast (2:26.66), and Umbarger won the 50 free (23.63) and the 100 free (52.76).  Her time in the 50 free was a school record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark.  Whitaker and Umbarger set a pair of LEC Championship record while O'Leary's mark in the 100 fly was also a meet mark.

Freshman Lianna Wissmann (Orleans, Mass.) teamed up with O'Leary, Whitaker, and Umbarger to win the 200 medley relay in a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:47.84.

Senior Jessica Laidley (Brockton, Mass.) also won the 1,000 free (11:09.14) and the 400 free relay team of freshmen Stephanie Murray (Haverhill, Mass.) and Wissmann along with Whitaker and Umbarger concluded the meet by winning with a time of 3:41.17.