Lehigh vs. Marist

POUGHKEEPSIE, New York, January 8. IN their first competition of the new calendar year, the Marist women's swimming and diving team faced off with the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks, Saturday afternoon at the McCann Natatorium. Looking to build off their 3-0 performance last month at the H20unds Invitational the Red Foxes came out in dominant form winning their first 14 events. When the event was over, Marist had secured victory with a final score of 186-109.

Six Red Foxes posted multiple wins at the meet: Kate Conard (East Setauket, N.Y.), Michelle Fountain (Sayville, N.Y.), Allison Kreho (Shelton, Conn.), Katie Larkin (Huntington, N.Y.), Maddie Arciello (Missoula, Mont.) and Chelaine Eliazar (Honolulu, Hawaii). Emily Miles (Long Valley, N.J.), as well as, the 400-yd. medley relay team also picked up wins in the Red Foxes' effort.

The 400-yd. medley relay team of Conard, Larkin, Miles and Arciello began the day of winning for the women with a six second victory in the day's first event.

Conard won both the 1000-yd. freestyle and 200-yd. butterfly events. In the day's third event, the freestyle, she posted a dominant time of 10:29.26, 23 seconds ahead of teammate Bonnie Orr (Fresno, Calif.). Her second victory, in the butterfly, came with a time of 2:11.68, again edging out a teammate, this time Amanda Letchko (Newton, N.J.).

Fountain won both the 200- and 500-yd. freestyle events. She won the 200-yd. with time of 1:56.18, four seconds ahead of her teammate, Bonnie Orr. In the 500-yd. event her 5:15.75 time put her five seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

Kreho was victorious in the 100- and 200-yd. backstroke events. A time of 1:00.41 helped her hold off teammate Megan Flood (East Longmeadow, Mass.) in the 100-yd. as the Red Foxes yet again finished top two in an event. In the 200-yd. event she posted a time of 2:09.00, good enough to clear second place Flood by five seconds.

Larkin swept both breaststroke events, the 100- and 200-yd. In a nail-biter, she won the 100-yd. by nine hundredths of a second. In another close battle, she was victorious in the 200-yd. by less than a second.

Arciello won the 50- and 100-yd. freestyle events. With a time of 24.91, she took victory in the 50-yd. In the 100-yd., facing stiff competition from Fountain, she was victorious with a time of 54.96.

Eliazar swept both diving events at the meet. In her first event, the 1-meter board, she held off teammates, Jenna Finn (North Easton, Mass.) and Lauren Weiner (Feeding Hills, Mass.) to win with a 224.10 point total. In the 3-meter board, she again battled with Finn for the top spot and prevailed with a 208.05 total.

Miles was victorious in the 100-yd. butterfly with a time of 1:00.21. She cleared her teammate Letchko by more than a second for the win.

The Red Foxes will return to the McCann Center Natatorium for their final home meet of the season next Saturday January 15 at 1 p.m. Marist will host to Southern Connecticut State University. As it is the final home meet of the season, there will be a presentation before hand to recognize our graduating seniors.

Meanwhile, in their first action in over a month, the Marist men's swimming and diving team faced off with the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks, Saturday afternoon at the McCann Natatorium. Facing off against an undefeated Lehigh team, Marist was in contention throughout, but lost by a final score of 172.5-125.5. They were paced by six individual event wins.

Senior diver Brian Bolstad (Highland, N.Y.) was a two-event winner, taking both the 1-meter and 3-meter, as was classmate Keith Miller (Missoula, Mont.), who won the 50- and 100-yd freestyle events. Senior Steven Vendetta (South Windsor, Conn.) and freshman Nick Spinella (Franklin Square, N.Y.) also notched victories. Bolstad won the 3-meter board decisively with a score of 332.55. With almost a mirror score of 332.40 points in his second event, Bolstad cruised to victory in the 1-meter board, as well. His 18 individual points was second best for the Red Foxes on the day.

In swimming events, Miller lead the Marist charge with 21 individual points and 4 relay points. He posted wins in the 50-yd. freestyle with a time of 22.22 and in the 100-yd. freestyle with a 48.92 time. The 100-yd. freestyle also saw Senior Joshua Sklanka (Watertown, Conn.) follow a close second. Miller was also a member of the second place 400-yd. freestyle relay team.

Vendetta won the day's sixth event, the 200-yd. freestyle. He held off two Lehigh swimmers to win with a time of 1:46.82.

Racing in event 20, Spinella won the 200-yard backstroke with a 1:57.89 time. He breezed to victory with nearly a four second advantage over the second place finisher.

The Red Foxes will return to the McCann Center Natatorium for their final home meet of the season next Saturday January 15 at 1 p.m. Marist will host Southern Connecticut State University. As it is the final home meet of the season, there will be a presentation before hand to recognize our graduating seniors.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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