The Richmond swimming and diving team split the results of their meet in New York Saturday, dispatching La Salle 209-90, but falling to the host Fordham Rams 159-140 at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center in The Bronx.
With the La Salle result in hand, the meet with Fordham literally came down to the final relay, but the Spiders could not claim the top two spots required to get the win.
“Fordham had a great meet,” said Spiders head coach Matt Barany. “This is such a fun trip for us. Being able to enjoy New York last night and having tight racing today only strengthens our team chemistry. I wish the women could have won today, but we’ll learn and roll forward.”
Richmond swimmers were setting season-best times in many events. In the distance events, Junior Molly McSweeney (Stoneham, Massachusetts) posted a season-best 5:08.74 in the 500 Free, while fellow junior Emma Terwilliger (Niskayna, New York) swam a 10:30.68 in the 1000 Free.
Freshman Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia / William Byrd HS) improved her team-best time in the 200 Free with a 1:54.09 result.
In the backstroke, freshman Hannah Verrette (Marblehead, Massachusetts) also beat her team-best time in the 200, down to 2:05.63 in that event. Sophomore Maggie Pope (Nashville, Tennessee) improved a pair of times, swimming a 57.43 in the 100 and a 2:05.49 in the 200, improving that time by more than a full second from her previous season best.
In the diving events, freshman Laura Rokop (Carmel, Indiana) improved both her 1m and 3m springboard scores, nearly posting an NCAA Zone-qualifying score in the 1m, with a 264.10, blowing away her previous best by more than 30 points.
Sophomore Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) beat her already A-10 best score in the 3m, pushing that score to 297.70. She once again posted a score in both the 1m and 3m that was above the Zone-qualifying standard. The Spiders went 1-2 in both the 3m and 1m events against both squads.
“I am excited about the divers competed today,” said head diving coach Sean Letsinger. “This was the most consistent that they have performed yet this season. When we dive consistently, we are very hard to beat.
Richmond will be at home next Saturday for the final time this season, hosting James Madison for senior day on campus. Action gets underway at noon.
College Swimming News courtesy of Richmond swimming and diving.
