By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's swimming & diving team enters the Little East Conference Championships with an obvious strong point.

The Bears have a talented and deep group of divers, led by senior Cailey Simard (Haverhill, Mass.), who is winding down a brilliant career.

BSU opens the Little East meet on Thursday night at Babson College with the 3-meter diving event, which gets underway at 7 p.m.

The final there days of the championship meet take place at the Boston Sports Institute with morning and evening sessions Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Bears have  finished second in the Little East four straight seasons with Keene State winning three times and Eastern Connecticut State prevailing in 2024.

Simard and two of her first-year teammates -- freshman Sienna DeLucia (Wallingford, Conn.) and sophomore Gianna Varady (Highland Park, N.J.), a transfer from Norwich University -- have recorded the top three scores among Little East divers in both events this season.

Simard has been the Little East Diver of the Year all three seasons and owns the conference meet record in the 1- and 3-meter dives.

Now, Simard will be bidding for a clean sweep after winning both of those events all three years in the conference.

"It's aunique situation," said BSU coach Michael Caruso of the career Simard has put together. "It's not something that comes around all the time. She's definitely a generational athlete.

"You take a step back a a coach and enjoy watching it and absorb it because there's no guarantee you'll ever get to see it again."

Simard, who owns four BSU diving records, has been the Little East Diver of the Week five times this season and 29 times in her four seasons.

Ranked first in the Little East this season with a score of 339.85 on the 1-meter board, Simard is followed by teammates DeLucia (270.05) and Varady (242.90).

In 3-meter diving, Simard is first at 356.80 with Varady second with a score of 277.46 followed by DeLucia (270.05).

Those three have qualified for the NCAA Northeast/North Regional to be held at Connecticut College Feb. 27-28, the first time the Bears have had multiple divers reach that level.

"The consistency the last five years has been unmatched at any point," said Caruso of the divers. "It's been pretty amazing. It's a historic diving run."

Two other BSU divers are ranked in the Little East with junior Jillian Hallman (Raynham, Mass.) fourth in 3-meter diving with 251.05 points and sixth in 1-meter diving with 204.70 points while junior Ava Anderson (Lynn, Mass.) is fifth on both boards with 220.15 points in 3-meter diving and 213.20 in 1-meter diving.

Two seniors -- Ava Fenton (Monument Beach, Mass.) and Julie Remson (Norwalk, Conn.) -- are ranked in a pair of events in the Little East.

Fenton is fifth in the 50-yard butterfly (28.00) and seventh in the 100 butterfly (1:04.00) while Remson is fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:03.44) and eight in the 50 backstroke (29.47).

Remson was the Little East champion in the 50 backstroke last season and was second in the 100 backstroke.

"Those two are in the top three in most of their events," said Caruso. "They'll do what they need to do.

"They've been strong. They've been supreme leaders who never really look for the limelight. They just show up and perform when it's time. They're great kids and we're spoiled to have them."

DeLucia has the seventh-best time in the Little East in the 50 breaststroke (34.41) while freshman Morgan Mahar (Dighton, Mass.) is eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:48.69.

Also key contributors are senior Emily Bradford (Pittsfield, Mass.), a mid-distance and distance swimmer, and sophomore Evangelina Chaves (Raynham, Mass.) in the butterfly and freestyle sprint.

"We're like any team, battling injuries and sickness," said Caruso, "but they've worked really hard to put themselves in a good position."

BSU has ecliped 700 points in three of the last four Little East meets with a high of 786 in 2024 when Eastern Connecticut won the meet with 805.