Donatio, Zeppa Earn Silver Medals as Owls Sixth at LEC Championship Meet
Zeppa set the school record in the 100 freestyle in the meet's final event
WESTFIELD., Mass. – Westfield State first-year Isabella Zeppa (Monson, Mass.) set a school record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.41 seconds to cap off the Owls performances on Sunday evening at the Little East Conference Championships at the Boston Sports Institute.
Zeppa set the record time while swimming the leadoff leg of the Owls 400 free relay to close out the meet. She had swum 54.62 earlier in the day while placing second to earn a silver medal in the 100 free event – a time that was 1/100th of a second slower than Alexa Richter's record of 54.61 set in 2023 – but Zappa rallied to break the record in the final event of the meet.
Zeppa's placing in the 100 free earned 17 points, as Westfield State finished sixth among the 11 competing schools at the meet. Eastern Connecticut State University claimed the team title with 839.5 points, followed by Keene State College (529), Bridgewater St (487), Husson University (461), University of New England (449), Westfield State (423) and Western New England University (413).
Emily Donatio (Westport, Mass./Dartmouth) earned her second silver medal of the meet in the 200-yard breaststroke, where she placed second in 2:36.10 to add another 17 points. Donatio racked up points for the Owls at the meet, as she finished with two individual silver medals and a bronze in her three events, and picked up a pair of bronze medals as part of two Owls relays at the championships.
In the 1650-yard freestyle, Kiera Fallon (Ayer, Mass./Ayer-Shirley Reg.) represented WSU in the championship final and finished eighth in 19:57.28, contributing 11 points to the team total.
The Owls also made their presence felt in the consolation finals. Chloe Chofay (Blackstone, Mass./Blackstone-Millville) led the way in the 200-yard breaststroke consolation heat, placing ninth overall in 2:47.83. In the 200-yard butterfly, Westfield placed three swimmers in the consolation final, highlighted by Emily Rogers' (Lowell, Mass./Central Catholic) 10th-place finish in 2:38.32, followed by Megan Baio (E. Bridgewater, Mass.) in 11th at 2:43.55 and Vivian Vanderpool (Elgin, Okla.) in 14th at 2:48.35.
Andrea Mattson (Temple, N.H. / ConVal Regional) added points in the 50-yard backstroke with a 12th-place finish in 31.63, while Caitlyn McIntyre (Duxbury, Mass.)and Maddie Bombard (Granby, Mass.) closed out the individual events for WSU in the Women's 100-yard IM, finishing 13th in 1:13.37 and 16th in 1:18.13, respectively.
Westfield broke three school records at the meet, with Zeppa collecting the 50 and 100 freestyle marks, while Autumn Sutherland lowered her record time in the 50 fly yesterday.
The meet wraps up the season for the Owls, who posted a 4-6 mark in dual meets in the 2025-26 season. The year was highlighted by a win in the Bridgewater Invitational meet in December – the first time the Owls have captured the title at that meet.