Duquesne vs Marshall (Women)
- October 18-19, 2024
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Duquesne Athletics
Pittsburgh, Pa. – The 400-yard freestyle relay sealed the deal for the Duquesne University swimming & diving team as it captured a 180-177 victory over Marshall in its one vs. one meet on Saturday morning inside Towers Pool.
A total of nine pool records were broken between the two teams, six of them coming from the Dukes. The nine pool records are the most in a single meet on the women’s side. Four different individuals as well as the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams highlighted the meet this afternoon.
Marshall held a slight lead heading into the final event of the day which was the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of freshmen Kaitlyn Connors, Ashley Freel, sophomore Lexi Sundgren, senior Haley Scholer captured the gold while securing the pool record with a time of 3:25.71. The team beat the previous pool record by five seconds which was held by Duquesne since 2020 with a time of 3:30.43. The team of sophomore Julia Sobun, senior Orla Egan, freshman Rachel Howard, and junior Katie Simpson took home the bronze in the same event while touching the wall at 3:29.26.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Sundgren secured the top spot while defeating her own pool record by touching the wall at 4:56.39. In the one vs. one event, Scholer kicked things off by capturing the gold in the 100-yard backstroke, defeating Mia McBride and beating her own pool record by clocking in at 54.05. Freshman Jess Burns followed that up with another first-place finish for the Dukes, capturing the pool record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.31. The Previous record was held by Madison Dickert, who posted a time of 1:03.71 in 2020.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Scholer, Burns, freshman Rachel Howard, and Connors captured the top spot while earning themselves the pool record with a time of 1:43.04. The previous record was held by the Dukes since 2020, where they registered a time of 1:44.67. In the very next event, Connors collected an individual pool record in the 50-yard free, defeating Kseniia Luniushina (23.36) by six tenth of a second (23.30). Halle Myers of St. Bonaventure previously held the record with a time of 23.48.
Sundgren added another first-place finish to her resume, defeating Molly Warner in the 100-yard freestyle by touching the wall at 51.82.
In the first relay of the day, the team of Connors, Howard, Burns, and Scholer finished in second in the 200 free relay while registering a time of 1:34.70. Freel (1:53.38) and sophomore Julia Sobun (1:54.42) finished second and third in the 200-yard free while freshmen Caitlin Horning (2:00.88) and Sierra Snow (2:02.42) finished with silver and bronze in the 200-yard backstroke. Junior Sydney Severini battled Audrey West in the 100-yard IM, finishing with a time of 58.69.
QUOTABLE
“I was pleased with the team’s efforts these last two days,” head coach David Sheets said. “Round one, the ladies were pretty good, but I thought on Round two we were a little flat with regards to racing. It seemed a good night’s sleep is all we needed. The ladies came with a ton of energy this morning and really stepped up. I think the format Ian and I came up with was a great change from the norm and brought a lot of energy (as evident from all the pool records) and competitiveness of both teams. It was back and forth most of the session on Saturday with some fantastic 1 v 1 races. Having the meet come down to the last relay was a great way to end a competitive and energetic meet. This was probably one of the most exciting dual meets I’ve been a part of.”
UP NEXT
Duquesne will be idle for a couple weeks before the diving team heads to Clarion to battle the Golden Eagles on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 12:00 p.m. inside Waldo S. Tippin Natatorium.
Courtesy: Marshall Athletics
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Marshall University Swimming and Diving team (0-1) fell by a narrow three-point margin, 180-177, in its knockout dual in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Duquesne Dukes.
The Herd set four Tower Pools records and registered a program top-10 all-time mark during the weekend.
“These are the kind of dual meets you want to be a part of,” Herd Swimming and Diving Head Coach Ian Walsh said. “Both teams pushed and elevated each other down to the final relay. I’m super proud of how our team responded throughout the meet and trusted their training, especially when we were down going into the last four events.”
Marshall started out the day by setting the Towers Pool record in the 200 Freestyle Relay as Kseniia Luniushina, Parker Lynch, Madeline Hart and Audrey West combined for a time of 1:33.72.
Preslava Tosheva then swam the 500 Freestyle in 4:56.57 for the ninth-fastest time in program history.
MU’s final two Towers Pool records came from Paige Banton winning the 200 Breaststroke (2:16.46) and Hart taking the 100 Butterfly (54.79) in the knockout.
“We set three pool records today and had an all-time top-10 performance,” Walsh said. “Our 200 Freestyle Relay of Kseniia, Madeline, Parker and Audrey was a great way to start the meet. Preslava had a phenomenal performance in her debut competition, racing to a personal best and is now ninth all-time in program history. Paige responded really well following her tight 100 Breaststroke and fired off a great 200, winning by over 3 seconds. Madeline capped off her meet by swimming a best in-season performance to win the 100 Fly in record fashion.”
Other winners on the day were West in the 100 Individual Medley (57.15), Hart in the 200 Butterfly (2:01.66) and Molly Warner in the 200 Freestyle (1:52.12) and 100 Freestyle (52.35).
“Top to bottom, this team flat out competed and I am really proud of our women. We have two home meets in November to round out the fall before mid-season. Excited to get back into training and prepare for a tough home stand with Buffalo and JMU.”
