WILMINGTON, North Carolina, October 11. The Richmond Spiders hold the lead over Old Dominion and UNC Wilmington halfway through the three teams’ two-day meet thanks to four wins in last night’s events. The\u00a0Old Dominion women’s team holds the lead over UNC Wilmington, while the UNC Wilmington men lead Old Dominion. The meet concludes this morning.<\/p>\n
Richmond swimming and diving got the 2014-15 season started Friday evening by taking the lead against old CAA rivals Old Dominion and UNC Wilmington in day one of a two-day tri-meet at the Seahawk Natatorium in Wilmington, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
After day one, Richmond leads ODU 106.5-78.5, while the Spiders lead host UNCW 96-89.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe drove four and a half hours straight to Wilmington\u2019s pool after our midterms, so I\u2019m okay with this result,\u201d said Richmond head coach Matt Barany. \u201cWe faded slightly as the meet went on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The main highlight of day one included a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 Fly, where junior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) was followed by senior Anna Fetter (Westfield, New Jersey) and junior Natalya Ares (Potomac, Maryland) in that event.<\/p>\n
The large freshman class had an impact on the scoring for the Spiders. Freshman Hannah Verrette (Marblehead, Massachusetts) captured the first event win of the day for the Spiders, turning in a 2:09.79 in the 200 IM. Fetter finished second for Richmond.<\/p>\n
Freshman Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia) took two first-place finishes in her first day of collegiate competition, winning both the 1000 and 200 Free events Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always cool to see an athlete get their first college event win,\u201d said Barany. “Hannah winning the 200 IM and Annie winning her events was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The divers competed in the 3m Friday, with sophomore Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) registering a 243.00, tops against UNCW and second versus ODU. Sophomore Mikaela Gekas-Robinson (Woodbury, New Jersey) turned in a 216.15 for third in both match-ups, and freshman teammate Laura Rokop (Carmel, Indiana) was right behind in fourth with a 209.85.<\/p>\n
“I am pleased with the divers’ performance today,” said head diving coach Sean Letsinger. “We started off a little shaky and it was evident that they were all a little bit nervous. I think that tomorrow we will come in more mentally prepared than we were today.”<\/p>\n
The three teams will get back in the water Saturday morning to conclude the weekend. Richmond will host the Richmond Duals next weekend both on campus for the diving and at GRAP for the swimming.<\/p>\n
Old Dominion University swimming competed in a tri-meet at UNCW to open the season and after day one lead UNCW 93-92 and trail Richmond while the men’s squad trails UNCW.<\/p>\n
The Monarchs had several solid finishes to open the 2014-15 season, as Francisco Byrne, Eddie Hubert, Reed Mathews and Vitor Sa opened the year by winning the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:24.05.<\/p>\n
Mathews won his second event of the day with a time of 9:45.17 in the 1000 freestyle while Sa was victorious in the 200 free in a time of 1:42.98.
\nFreshman Philip Nordenberg picked up his first career win in the 100 breastroke with a time of 57.75.<\/p>\n
On the women’s side, Julia Vido got the first win of the year in the 100 breastroke with a time of 1:05.19.<\/p>\n
The team of Morgan Johnson, Stephanie Norris, Sofie Sjoberg and Juliana dos Santos won the 200 free relay in a time of 1:37.77 to clinch the win over UNCW.<\/p>\n
Senior Rachel Eckert won the 3-meter dive with a score of 293.15
\nDay two of the meet begins Saturday morning.<\/p>\n