University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
UNC-Wilmington
Underclassmen Impressive As Swimming & Diving Opens 2010-11 Season
10/09/2010 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 9, 2010
NORFOLK, Va. - Richmond opened its 2010-11 swimming and diving season Saturday afternoon, and the Spiders benefited from impressive performances by underclassmen in a double dual meet versus CAA contenders UNC-Wilmington and Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va.
Freshman Mali Kobelja won the 200 back and 200 IM, freshman Jessie Krebs won the 500 free and sophomore Lauren Hines took the 100 free to highlight the season-opener for the Spiders.
"This was a great early test for our team," said head coach Matt Barany. "These are two good teams from the CAA, which is one of the top mid-major swimming conferences in the nation."
After a sixth-place finish in the 100 back earlier in the meet, Kobelja won her first college race by finishing the 200 back in a time of 2:05.06. The rookie followed that up with a victory in the 200 IM (2:06.97).
"Mali swam a good meet," said Barany. "We go into this meet really looking to our upperclassmen to get the job done. Mali is a freshman and she was disappointed with her early swims, but she made adjustments and won her first two college swims later on. She made progress today that takes some rookies months to make."
Krebs was also strong, taking third in the 200 free (1:54.77) then winning the 500 free in a time of 5:05.16.
"Jessie negative split her 500 free," said Barany. "It's impressive for her to show that type of composure to reel them in one by one over the second half of that race."
Hines, who was the Most Outstanding Rookie at the 2010 A-10 Championship and the reigning A-10 100 back champion, picked up right where she left off by winning the 100 free in a time of 51.77 and collecting a pair of second-place finishes in the 200 free (1:54.23) and the 50 free (24.08).
Junior Charlotte Brackett was second in the 100 back, putting down a career-best time of 57.72. She also helped the 400 medley relay, which also featured Hines, Kobelja and junior Jill Smaniotto, to a second-place finish (3:51.36).
In the season-opening double-dual, the Spiders dropped a 177-118 decision to the Monarchs and a 180-117 result to UNCW.
Richmond is back in action next weekend, hosting Georgia Southern in a dual meet at the Robins Center Nataorium. The meet begins at 1 p.m., admission is free and the meet will be web-streamed live on SpiderTV.
