Richmond Swimming Starts Strong at Richmond Duals

Photo Courtesy: Richmond Athletics

RICHMOND, Virginia, October 17. Richmond swimming kicked off the first of two days of the Richmond Duals in strong fashion. The squad leads Davidson, 163.5-135.5. George Mason and Duquesne also are competing this weekend in Richmond.

Richmond Press Release

Richmond swimming and diving got into a great early-season contest with Davidson and beat the A-10 newcomers 163.50-135.50 in day one of the Richmond Duals Friday night. The swimming portion was held at the Collegiate School Aquatic Center, while the diving portion was contested at the Richmond Natatorium on campus.

The George Mason and Duquesne men also competed against one another, with GMU leading 116-88. The two teams will finish their two-day tomorrow.

Richmond will face George Mason in day two on Saturday. The Patriots defeated Duquesne 174-105 in the other matchup on Friday evening.

Sophomore Maggie Pope (Nashville, Tennessee) won Richmond’s first individual event, taking the 100 Back in 57.82, with fellow sophomore (Front Royal, Virginia) finishing third for points in the meet.

In the very next event, a pair of freshmen went one-two in the 100 Breast as Erin Barry (Millington, New Jersey) and reigning A-10 Rookie of the Week Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia) were the only swimmers in under 1:06 in that event.

In the diving portion, held on campus, sophomore Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) and freshman Laura Rokop (Carmel, Indiana) finished 1-2 in both the 3m and 1m events against the Wildcats.

Pope won the 200 Back, with DuMez placing second against Davidson in the meet.

Barry then took a second win with a 2:21.03 in the 200 Back

Veteran leadership in the later events took hold, after young swimmers led in the early events. Junior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) won both the 100 Fly and 100 Free as senior teammate Anna Fetter (Westfield, New Jersey) finished second in the latter.

Lane and Hannah Verrette (Marblehead, Massachusetts) posted the low two times in the 200 IM, the final individual event of the first evening.

Action gets going Saturday morning on campus when diving starts at 9:30 a.m. Swimming begins at 10:15 at the Collegiate School Aquatics Center. All events are streamed on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network.

Davidson Press Release

Sophomore Elise Lankiewicz earned victories in three individual events, but it was not enough to give Davidson women’s swimming & diving a victory over Richmond, as the host Spiders defeated the Wildcats, 163.5-135.5, Friday evening in the Richmond Shootout at the Collegiate School Aquatic Center. The Davidson men also began a meet against George Mason, and trail 116-88 after 11 events.

Competition at the four-team Richmond Shootout will resume Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m., as the men will continue against George Mason, while the women will face Duquesne. Duquesne was defeated by George Mason in a dual meet swam concurrently Friday (174-105). This is Davidson’s first meet against its new Atlantic 10 Conference competition.

Lankiewicz opened the women’s meet with a convincing victory in the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:15.35, besting the top challenger by 21 seconds, and contributed to a 200 medley relay tie in 1:47.47. Her third win came in the 200 butterfly in 2:05.16, out-touching Richmond’s Melissa Ross by two-tenths of a second. Lankiewicz capped her night by leading a 1-2 Wildcat finish in the 500 freestyle, touching in 5:04.30 to Elizabeth Weldon’s 5:09.02.

The top performance on the men’s side was a podium sweep in the 200-yard freestyle led by Luke Burton. Burton touched in 1:43.60 and was followed by junior classmate Grant Smith (1:44.70) and freshman Cole Riggan (1:44.96.) Burton also won the 200 backstroke in 1:52.77, and that race was followed by a victory for Spencer Gill in the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.42.

For the women, Weldon was also the runner-up in an earlier Wildcat 1-2 finish, as she trailed Angie Healy (1:55.25) in the 200 free, touching in 1:55.96. The event gave Davidson an early lead following the 200 medley relay.

Kassie Shannon earned two individual wins and two relay wins in a strong showing. She closed the gap on the final relay anchor leg in the 200 medley relay, and also gave Davidson a 68.5-61.5 lead at the halfway point after she and Erica Clancy took first and second in the 50 free in 24.05 and 24.42 seconds, respectively.

However, Richmond claimed the next three events before Shannon then won the 100 free in 52.43. The Spiders were victorious in three more events before Davidson concluded the meet on a winning note in the 400 freestyle relay, which included Shannon, Meredith Nakano, Clancy and Healy (3:32.59.)

The diving events took place on campus at the University of Richmond, and Karen Monuszko led the ‘Cats with third-place finishes in both the 1-meter (203.20) and 3-meter (223.55). Max Feinstein placed second for the men in the 1-meter (193.65).

Additionally for the men, Brandon Kegley (47.40), Ari Snyder (48.44), and Cole Riggan (48.72) finished consecutively in the 100 free, but Kegley was out-touched for the victory by a tenth of a second by George Mason’s Alec Morin. Smith also earned a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley (1:53.53), three-tenths of a second off the winning pace. The ‘Cats ‘A’ team also took top honors in the 400 free relay in 3:07.85.

Results: Richmond Duals, Day One

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