University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Patriot Invite
Divers Off To Fast Start At Mason Thursday
11/21/2014 | Women's Swimming & Diving
FAIRFAX, Va -- Richmond swimming and diving sits in fourth place after day one of the Patriot Invitational, hosted by George Mason after Thursday.
“We'll get better,” said head coach Matt Barany. “We still have to get a few more women into the game, but we'll get there.”
The swimmers individually scored in the three Thursday events. Freshman Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia / William Byrd HS) posted a third in the 500 Free, with senior Meredith Gouger (Cockeysville, Maryland) placing sixth.
The divers, who competed on their own at a diving-only meet in their last competition, came together with the swimmers towards the team score this weekend in Fairfax and led the way for the opening day.
Sophomore Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) topped all divers in the 3m with a 275.85 and a first-place finish for 20 points toward the team score. She was third after the preliminary round earlier in the afternoon. Freshman Laura Rokop (Carmel, Indiana) set a personal best with a 250.00 and third-place in the event after sitting fifth heading into the final. Sophomore Mikaela Gekas-Robinson (Woodbury, New Jersey) added nine points with a ninth-place finish after a score of 202.30 in the preliminary round.
“The divers were very poised today and continue to demonstrate improvement from meet to meet,” said head diving coach Sean Letsinger.
“This meet is always a challenge because the events are much longer than that of a typical dual meet. I was very impressed with out composure today, and glad to see Irina and Laura move up from prelims to finals.”
In other swimming action Thursday, freshman Hannah Verrette (Marblehead, Massachusetts) and junior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) added scoring in the 200 IM and 50 Free, respectively for the Spiders.
The Spiders finished fourth and fifth in the pair of Thursday relays.
Preliminary action in day two will start at 10 a.m. with five individual events and two more team relays, as well as 1m diving action in the busiest day of the three-day competition.
Players Mentioned
