Marshall vs James Madison
- November 9, 2024
- Huntington, W. Va.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Marshall Athletics
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall University Swimming and Diving team (2-1) picked up a 196-103 Sun Belt Conference win over the defending SBC Champion James Madison Dukes (0-1) on Saturday at the Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium. The Herd took 13 of the 16 events with four podium sweeps in the meet.
“Really proud of our women,” Herd Swimming and Diving Head Coach Ian Walsh said. “We’ve had a really busy fall semester and they’ve done a great job of taking it day by day, meet by meet. (Assistant Coach) Kat (Mueller) and I asked some of our swimmers to approach some races differently. There were some great takeaways from those races as we prepare for Indianapolis in two weeks.”
In 1m Diving, Grace Kelsheimer took the event with a season-best 307.05, narrowly missing the pool record by .38 of a point. The senior finished second in 3m Diving with a 282.23.
Marshall swept the podium in the 1000 Freestyle, 200 Butterfly and the 100 and 200 Breaststroke.
In the 100 Freestyle, Eszter Laban (10:32.20) took the event with Federica Savoia (10:36.36) finishing second and Preslava Tosheva (10:31.03) third. Then Madeline Hart (2:04.58), Lauren McNamara (2:05.67) and Laban (2:06.13) took first through third, respectively, in the 200 Butterfly.
Paige Banton took the 100 (1:04.22) and 200 Breaststroke (2:19.68) with Audrey West capturing second (1:05.14) in the 100 and third (2:23.07) in the 200. Jenna Bopp finished in second (2:21.66) with Maddy Akin taking third in the 100 (1:06.32) to sweep the two events.
“Grace K has a great showing today, just missing the pool record on 1m Diving,” Walsh said. “MJ (Leviaguirre) put together two strong lists and has really found a groove in training and competition. Kseniia (Luniushina), Paige (Banton), and Madeline (Hart) all had two individual wins while contributing to our relays as well. Kseniia’s 200 Backstroke is now ninth all-time in program history.”
The Herd also took the 400 Medley Relay with Kseniia Luniushina, West, Hart and Parker Lynch (3:47.15), Mia McBride in the 100 Backstroke (56.93), Luniushina in 50 Freestyle (23.46) and 200 Backstroke (2:01.14) with the ninth-fastest time in program history, Hart in the 100 Butterfly (56.94), Laban in the 400 Individual Medley (4:28.75) and bookend by Hart, Luniushina, Lynch and West in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:34.93).
“Winning 13 of 16 events really showcased our strengths across all stroke disciplines, eight of the 13 event wins we went one-two. The staff is excited for our mid-season competition to see how we stack up in a championship meet format. The team is in a great spot.”
RESULTS
400 Medley Relay
1st – Kseniia Luniushina, Audrey West, Madeline Hart, Parker Lynch (3:47.15)
2nd – Mia McBride, Paige Banton, Lauren McNamara, Nina Nugent (3:50.32)
4th – Loraine Cleveland Lungu, Maddy Akin, Tatum Robinson, Katie Fisher (4:03.42)
1000 Freestyle
1st – Eszter Laban (10:32.20)
2nd – Federica Savoia (10:36.36)
3rd – Preslava Tosheva (10:31.03)
4th – Charlotte Thompson (10:49.63)
200 Freestyle
2nd – Molly Warner (1:53.17)
4th – Preslava Tosheva (1:55.05)
5th – Allison Dodd (1:55.56)
11th – Federica Savoia (2:02.58)
100 Backstroke
1st – Mia McBride (56.93)
3rd – Lauren Ramsey (58.59)
4th – Kate Bolgarskaya (1:00.20)
100 Breaststroke
1st – Paige Banton (1:04.22)
2nd – Audrey West (1:05.14)
3rd – Maddy Akin (1:06.32)
4th – Jenna Bopp (1:06.55)
200 Butterfly
1st – Madeline Hart (2:04.58)
2nd – Lauren McNamara (2:05.67)
3rd – Eszter Laban (2:06.13)
50 Freestyle
1st – Kseniia Luniushina (23.46)
2nd – Parker Lynch (24.30)
5th – Nina Nugent (24.92)
100 Freestyle
2nd – Molly Warner (52.98)
3rd – Nina Nugent (53.68)
4th – Parker Lynch (54.07)
10th – Loraine Cleveland Lungu (55.03)
200 Backstroke
1st – Kseniia Luniushina (2:01.14)
2nd – Mia McBride (2:02.81)
200 Breaststroke
1st – Paige Banton (2:19.68)
2nd – Jenna Bopp (2:21.66)
3rd – Audrey West (2:23.07)
4th – Maddy Akin (2:26.02)
500 Freestyle
3rd – Preslava Tosheva (5:11.81)
5th – Federica Savoia (5:18.50)
6th – Charlotte Thompson (5:22.11)
100 Butterfly
1st – Madeline Hart (56.94)
3rd – Lauren McNamara (58.91)
4th – Tatum Robinson (59.01)
400 Individual Medley
1st – Eszter Laban (4:28.75)
2nd – Molly Warner (4:32.78)
4th – Lauren McNamara (4:37.02)
6th – Allison Dodd (4:45.06)
200 Freestyle Relay
1st – Madeline Hart, Kseniia Luniushina, Parker Lynch, Audrey West (1:34.93)
3rd –Nina Nugent, Mia McBride, Preslava Tosheva, Lauren Ramsey (1:39.10)
4th – Loraine Cleveland Lungu, Katie Fisher, Allison Dodd, Molly Warner (1:40.81)
3m Diving
2nd – Grace Kelsheimer (282.23)
6th – MJ Leviaguirre (234.90)
8th – Ally Humbert (204.90)
10th – Pari Surana (138.90)
1m Diving
1st – Grace Kelsheimer (307.05)
5th – MJ Leviaguirre (242.85)
7th – Ally Humbert (206.48)
10th – Pari Surana (144.15)
UP NEXT
Marshall heads to the Meet of Champions in Indianapolis, Indiana, for its mid-season meet from November 21 through November 23.
Courtesy: JMU Sports
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – James Madison swimming & diving came away with wins in four events in a 196-103 setback to Marshall on Saturday’s dual at Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium.
Sophomore Kate Vitolo won the 3-meter board with a score of 303.90 to qualify for the 2025 NCAA Zone A Championships on the board, while also qualifying for the 1-meter with senior Alexa Holloway.
Also earning individual victories were Jamie Cornwell in the 100 Free, Madison Wimmer in the 200 Free and Angela Ritchie in the 500 Free.
Quoting Head Coach Dane Pedersen
“The final score wasn’t what we wanted but there was still a lot of growth from our races and dives from our previous meet against Liberty. That learning curve is what this time of the year is all about to us. All credit to Marshall on a great meet. They are a super talented team.”
Diving Events
- Competing on the 3-meter board for the first time this season, Vitolo took home first with a score of 303.90, her fourth highest score of her collegiate career. Holloway finished third with a score of 276.53.
- Holloway and Vitolo finished second and third, respectively, on the 1-meter. The pair respectively recorded scores of 281.25 and 267.83, both NCAA Zone qualifying scores.
Individual Swimming Events
- Cornwell and Wimmer both placed in multiple events, each winning one race. Cornwell won the 100 Free with a time of 52.66 and recorded a 24.32 in the 50 Free to take third. Wimmer won the 200 Free by swimming a time of 1:53.03 and then dropped her time from the last meet by almost a full second to take second in the 500 Free with a time of 5:06.85.
- The swimmer finishing ahead of Wimmer in the 500 Free was Angela Ritchie, dropping her previous time against Liberty in the event by nearly two seconds to win the race with a time of 5:05.61.
- Also representing JMU as second-place finishers were Sarah Pauley in the 100 Back (58.59) and Grace Bousum in the 100 Fly (57.89.
- An additional four Dukes finished third in their respected races, with Riley Nugent dropping her previous 200 Back time this season by over a second (2:05.53).
- Katelyn Fitzgerald swam a time of 1:54.67 in the 200 Free, Abby Maguire notched a time of 10:40.92 in the 1000 Free and Jess Pryne rounded out JMU’s day with a time of 4:33.02 in the 400 IM.
Relays
- To open the meet, the Dukes claimed third in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:54.01 from the team of Pauley, Suzanne Earnshaw, Bousum and Cornwell.
- Closing out the meet, JMU took second in the 200 Free Relay as the squad of Cornwell, Bousum, Alex Volk and Wimmer swam a time of 1:35.72.
Up Next
The Dukes will split up to end the fall half of the season. The divers will head to Morgantown, W.Va. to compete in the West Virginia Invitational on Nov. 20-22, while the swimmers are bound for Charlotte, N.C. on Nov. 22-24 for the Fall Frenzy Invitational.
