Day 1 Of 2015 Richmond Duals In The Books

Photo Courtesy: Richmond Athletics

The first day of the 2015 Richmond Duals is in the books with the hosts picking up a win against George Mason. Duquesne, Davidson and George Mason are also taking part in the two-day event.

Richmond Press Release:

Richmond swimming and diving took out George Mason 184-110 to start the 2015-16 season in day one of the Richmond Duals.

By virtue of the win, the Spiders will face off against Duquesne in a dual Saturday. The Dukes defeated Davidson 168-119. In the men’s dual, George Mason leads Davidson 118-81. The men’s dual will be contested over the two days.

Diving took a starring role early in the day for the Spiders, with junior Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) already posting a Zone Qualifying score in her first day of competition for the year. On the 1m board, she posted a 274.40, just nine points from a personal-best score and putting her in the Zones by nearly 10 points. In 3m action, Chiulli led all divers with a 254.30 score. She posted the highest scores by anyone in the A-10 no both boards to this point of the season. Sophomore Laura Rokop (Wildwood, Missouri) was second in the 1m, with a score of 236.90 and junior Mikaela Gekas-Robinson (Woodbury, New Jersey) took second in the 3m with a persona-best 234.85 score.

“What a great way to start our season,” said UR head diving coach Sean Letsinger. “We took a risk and decided to compete some new dives and it really paid off. The divers demonstrated outstanding competitive maturity, and I am excited to come back tomorrow morning and see if we can improve our dives from today.”

Points were scored up and down the lineup for the Spiders on the swimming side, which took place at SwimRVA. Seniors Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) and Melissa Ross (Warrington, Pennsylvania) both posted the fastest time of the day for all four teams in the 100 Fly (55.65) and 200 Fly (2:04.24), respectively.

Sophomore Erin Barry (Millington, New Jersey) posted the fastest time of all four teams in both the 100 and 200 Breast.

In her first collegiate meet, freshman Nicole Piercy (Newport News, Virginia / Hampton Roads Academy) was fastest in the mile, at 17:37.92, and was second-fastest for the day, but winning the dual meet with Mason in the 500 Free, with a 5:10.20 time.

Diving, at the Richmond Natatorium, begins at 9:30 a.m. The swimming events begin at 10 a.m. at SwimRVA. The live stream of both diving and swimming is available through the Atlantic 10 Digital Network.

Davidson Press Release:

The Davidson swimming and diving programs concluded day one of the Richmond Duals Friday evening. The women suffered a 168-119 setback to Duquesne, while the men trail George Mason, 118-81, after day one of competition.

With the loss, the women will face George Mason Saturday as the Patriots fell to the Spiders, 184-110, Friday night.

Junior Elise Lankiewicz led the Wildcats with two individual titles and helped the 400 freestyle relay squad to a gold. Lankiewicz won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.22 and the 500 freestyle with an impressive 5:04.77 mark that was six seconds faster than the competition.

Lankiewicz also finished third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:06.42 to complete the day.

Senior Angie Healy also registered top finishes for the Wildcats. The captain placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.44 and third in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 52.98, in addition to also helping the 400 freestyle relay squad place first.

Davidson competed in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events for the first time this season. Megan Cypcar registered fourth-place finishes in both events, tallying a score of 221.50 in the 3-meter and a 196.30 in the 1-meter. Summer Abiad took seventh (173.15) on the 1-meter and sixth on the 3-meter board.

On the men’s side, Luke Burton went undefeated on day one. The senior captain won the 200 freestyle (1:40.67) and the 200 backstroke (1:50.31), while helping the 400 freestyle relay squad to a first-place showing (3:07.63).

In addition to Burton, Grant Smith took home the 200 breaststroke title with a time of 2:09.11. The senior also placed second in the 200 IM, touching the wall at the 1:58.29 mark, and helped the 200 medley relay team to a second-place showing.

Three other Wildcats registered second-place finishes for Davidson. Senior Cameron Bard swam a time of 21.94 in the 50 freestyle, freshman Jake Perron recorded a mark of 47.68 in the 100 freestyle, sophomore Riley League swam a time of 1:54.26 in the 200 butterfly and sophomore Clay Resweber touched the wall at the 16:31.04 mark in the 1650 freestyle.

The Wildcats will jump back in the water tomorrow at 10 a.m. to cap off competition.

George Mason Press Release:

Still to come.

Duquesne Press Release:

Still to come.

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