Richmond, George Mason Close 2015 Richmond Duals With Wins

Photo Courtesy: Richmond Athletics

Richmond and George Mason both closed the 2015 Richmond Duals two-day event with victories.

Richmond Press Release:

Richmond swimming and diving followed up with its Friday night win to capture its second dual of the weekend by taking out Duquesne in the final day of the Richmond Duals 156-137 Saturday morning at SwimRVA and the Richmond Natatorium.

The Spiders got contributions from all four classes in the win. The Spiders took seven wins of the 14 swimming events, sweeping the top two spots twice for big points towards the team victory.

Six different swimmers won individual events, with the relay team of sophomore Erin Barry (Millington, New Jersey), junior Maggie Pope (Nashville, Tennessee), freshman Morgan Soulia (Wexford, Pennsylvania) and senior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) winning the 400 Medley Relay in the early portion of the day. Barry (200 Breast) and Yang (100 Fly) also won individual events, along with seniors Molly McSweeney (Stoneham, Massachusetts), who took the 500 Free, Emma Terwilliger (Niskayna, New York), who won the 1,650 Free to start the day, and Melissa Ross (Warrington, Pennsylvania), winner of the 200 Fly.

“I think we felt we had a strong lineup,” said head coach Matt Barany. “Today was a great meet. We have respect for Duquesne and they challenged us. The playing field is much more level so we make mistakes, we can get touched out, which happened some today. We have to start working harder and turn up our volume when a team turns up their volume.”

The Spiders diving squad dove unopposed to score maximum points for Richmond. Junior Irinia Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) posted a 287.80 score in the 3m springboard, an NCAA Zones-qualifying score in her first event of the day. She later posted a personal-best 286.20 result in the 1m, just three points from the school record, set back in 2002. Sophomore Laura Rokop posted a personal-best on the 3m board, with a 258.65 score. Both Chiulli and Rokop have the highest scores in a 3m event in the Atlantic 10 Conference so far this season.

“It is great to see our hard work pay off,” said head diving coach Sean Letsinger. “This weekend was an excellent start to our season, but we still have a lot of things that we can improve on.”

In the two duals over the two days, Richmond had 11 different swimmers or divers win an individual event, with the Spiders going 1-2 in an event eight times. Six different swimmers were part of a winning relay over the weekend as well.

In addition to the four seniors winning an individual event, two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen finished first for Richmond in an event, adding an additional freshman involved in a relay victory.

“It was great to see the seniors win events,” added Barany. “Talking about role models, our freshmen are able to see our seniors produce at the level they were producing.”

The Spiders will take on Queens and Virginia Tech out in Blacksburg in two weeks on Friday, October 30, starting at 5 p.m.

George Mason Press Release:

The George Mason men’s and women’s swimming and diving finished day two of the Richmond Duals on top as the women defeated Davidson 160-138 and the men won 109-90 to add to their 118-82 total yesterday against Davidson. The men’s dual was contested over the two days.

The women’s team bounced back with the win after a loss to Richmond yesterday at the Richmond Duals. The Patriots jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the first event, the 1,650 yard freestyle, when Erin Schulte and Megan De Jong finished first and second. Steff Maurer won the 200 freestyle to increase the Patriots margin, but Davidson placed top three in the 100 yard backstroke to tie the meet at 36 points.

Davidson took the lead after the next two races; 100 yard breaststroke and 200 yard fly to lead 60-50. Mason took a commanding 112-93 lead after Syd Fisher won both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle, Maurer won the 200 yard backstroke and Kylie More won the 1 meter and later the 3 meter diving events. Later the Patriots would sweep the 100 yard fly to solidify the victory.

On the men’s side, the Wildcats had an 76-68 lead on the Patriots through the first eight events. Mason’s Matthew Lynch earned a first place finish in the 100 yard butterfly and divers Paul Helfgott and Trevor Long earned points for first and second finishes respectively in that span.

In the final three events Mason would earn 41 points; in the 50 yard fly, the 400 yard IM and the 200 yard relay. In the butterfly, Jesse Burnley and Tom Malone finished one-two and Steven Craig and Brandon Nester claimed top two finishers in the 400 yard IM. The team of Morin, Dietrich, Jacobsen and Burnely won the relay.

Davidson Press Release:

Unavailable

Duquesne Press Release:

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