WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Bowdoin College women's swimming and diving team broke seven school records at the 2011 NESCAC Championship last weekend at Williams College. Allen Garner had a hand in five of the seven marks while Laurel Varnell posted the top individual finish of the meet. As a team, the Polar Bears finished in 10th place overall.

Varnell carded a school-record time of 1:07.01 in the 100 yard breaststroke, taking fourth place overall and breaking a 16-year old mark of 1:07.10 set by Molly Fey in 1995. Garner finished seventh in the 50 backstroke (28.21), but beat her own school record of 28.16 with a time of 28.12 in the prelims. Allison Palmer also took seventh in the 50 freestyle (24.24), edging the program record of 24.30 set by Megan McLean in 2005.

The Polar Bears re-wrote the record books in the team events, shattering four of the five school records in the relays. The 200 medley squad of Garner, Varnell, Christine Rholl and Palmer took seventh in 1:50.17, breaking a two-year old mark of 1:50.34. The 400 relay team of Kaley Kokomoor, Rholl, Garner and Palmer also broke a two-year mark by finishing in 3:35.09, trimming the school record of 3:35.28, while also placing seventh overall.

The 400 medley relay team of Garner, Varnell, Rholl and Palmer finished eighth in 3:59.39 to become the first under-4:00 Bowdoin team in the event. Meanwhile the 800 free relay team of Sarah Hirschfeld, Rholl, Caitlin Hutchinson-Maddox and Garner was ninth overall in 7:54.81, beating the previous program standard of 7:55.12.