University of Richmond Athletics
Two More Meet Marks Fall During Dominant Day Three
02/25/2012 | Women's Swimming & Diving
LOCATION: Buffalo, N.Y. | Erie Community College's Flickinger Athletic Center
MEET INFORMATION:
Schedule of Events | Tickets
AREA INFORMATION: Directions
| Weather | Buffalo Visitors Guide
| 2012 A-10 Championship Central |
RichmondSpiders.com Coverage |
| Live Event Results |
Live Results | Live In-Meet Tweets |
| Social Media | Barany's Blog | Facebook | Video | Photos |
| 2012 Meet Previews | RichmondSpiders.com | SpiderTV |
| Day 1: Wednesday, Feb. 22 | Live Video | Recap | Results |
| Day 2: Thursday, Feb. 23 | Live Video | Recap | Results |
| Day 3: Friday, Feb. 24 | Live Video | Recap | Results |
| Day 4: Saturday, Feb. 25 | Live Video | Recap | Results |
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Sophomore Mali Kobelja twice shattered her own 400 IM mark on Friday to highlight what was a dominant display in the water for Richmond Swim & Dive on the third day of the Atlantic 10 Championship in Buffalo. The Spiders, who secured wins in four of Friday's six events, more than doubled their lead in a day's time and now boast a formidable 516 points heading into Saturday's fourth and final day of conference meet action.
"Our team did a great job of getting its work done in the morning to set up tonight's swims," said assistant coach Travis Stensby. "If you look at what we accomplished in the morning, especially in the 400 IM and 200 free, we did what we had to do to make what we did tonight possible. The team treated prelims as if it were finals. We came in with enthusiasm and returned with that same attitude to start the night right and end it with some great swims. I think another good measure of our team's success today is the fact that the majority of us have no voices left."
After resetting the A-10 record in the 400 IM with a top time of 4:17.05
in Friday's prelims, Kobelja (Fort Wayne, Ind./R. Nelson Snider) came off the
blocks to shave more than a second off her morning mark with a winning and NCAA
'B' qualifying time of 4:16.02 in finals that passes Mary Adams for third place in the Spider record books. Kobelja's meet record is her second
in as many days, as she clocked a conference mark in the 200 portion of the
event on Thursday.
Freshman Meredith Gouger (Cockeysville, Md./Dulaney) turned in a season-best time of 4:23.88 to take third in the 400 IM, and sophomore Erin Brady (Tynsboro, Mass./Kenyon College) finished fourth in 4:26.76 before following suit with a 1:05.34 in the 100 breast. Sophomore Mariel Kush (Sourderton, Pa./Souderton) rounded out the Spider four-woman 400 IM field with an eighth-place showing of 4:35.29.
Junior Lauren Hines (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) has increasingly hit her stride as of late this season and all but continued that trend by clocking a 52.81 to crush the field by more than a second in the 100 back. Her time is a strong "B" cut that stands .26 seconds off the NCAA automatic qualifying mark and just .05 seconds off her conference record set a year ago.
Senior Jill Smaniotto (Millville, N.J./Millville) turned in a sixth-place showing of 56.89 in the event. Smaniotto was also featured in the 100 fly, posting a time of 55.99 to finish just outside the top-three in fourth.
The Spiders fielded another four swimmers in the finals of the 200 free after each finished among the top-five in prelims. In what was a thrilling come-from-behind victory, senior Charlotte Brackett (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) touched the wall in 1:49.75 and just ahead of freshman Allison Titley (Richmond, Va./Saint Gertrude) to complete the three-peat with her third-consecutive conference win in the race. Titley's silver-medal mark of 1:49.79 represents her second medal of the week after she captured the 500 free gold on Thursday.
A pair of seniors in Michelle Johnson (Levittown, Pa./Nazareth Academy) and Liz Cohan (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) clocked career-bests of 1:51.28 and 1:52.40, respectively, to finish fifth and seventh.
With Hines, Kobelja and Brackett having already made the trip to the top of the podium on Friday, they would look to lock up a gold for Smaniotto as well when the quartet came together to end the evening in the 400 medley relay. The foursome would do just that and in impressive fashion with an A-10 record time of 3:40.20. The squad's meet record, Richmond's fourth overall this week, was particularly sweet for Brackett as she also anchored the previous record-holding relay as a freshman in 2009.
The Spiders' quest for a second-straight and tenth total conference title in 11 years enters its final day on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly prelims. 1650 free prelims will be swum in the afternoon. Finals, including the meet-ending 400 free relay, are set to get underway at 6:30 p.m. with the A-10 awards ceremony to follow.
Live results and in-meet @SpiderSwimDive tweets will be provided over the course of the week in both prelims and finals. The same is true for live video, which is being made available every day free of charge.
Players Mentioned
