LORETTO, Pennsylvania, October 20. THE Saint Francis University women's swim team opened up its home season in style, earning first-place finished in nine of 11 events enroute to a 115-84 victory over Cleveland State.
Red Flash sophomores Kristen Low (Mississagauga, Ontario/Cawthra Park S.S.) and Blair Kosela (Cresent, Pa./Moon Area) turned in outstanding performances in the winning effort. Low took first in 200-yard IM (2:15.71) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.98), while Kosela earned the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle (25.23), the 100-yard freestyle (54.97), and anchored the 200-yard medley relay team to first-place finish (1:53.36).
Kosela was joined on the winning 200-yard medley relay entry by Elise Merrill (Carlisle, Pa./Big Spring), Jenna Raptosh (Akron, Pa./Ephrata), and Elyse Dobrick (Zelienople, Pa./Seneca Valley). Another Saint Francis team consisting of Kaitlin Lyons, Elyse Peterman, Stephanie O'Donnell (Prospect, Conn./Woodland Regional), and Kayla Hollstadt (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) took second place in the event with a time of 1:54.35.
Two freshmen also earned a pair of first-place finishes for SFU. Melissa Heintz (Boyertown, Pa./Oley Valley) won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.15 and Dobrick swam a 1:00.89 to claim the 100-yard butterfly.
Special thanks to Saint Francis for contributing this report.