University of Richmond Athletics
UR Swimming & Diving Heads To Final Day In Fairfax
11/21/2015 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Richmond swimming and diving continues into the final day of the Patriot Invitational after two strong days to start the three-day meet in Fairfax. The Spiders are one of nine teams in the competition.
The meet runs a championship meet format, with swimmers allowed to compete in three individual events and four relays, with preliminary and finals heats in most individual events.
The divers completed their events over the first two nights. Richmond was the only school to place three divers in the 3m finals, with junior Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) putting up a new personal-best regular-season score of 310.90 in the prelims on Wednesday. Her finals score of 304.40 finished first, with UR and sophomore Laura Rokop (Wildwood, Missouri) finishing third. Rokop's preliminary score of 266.15 was a new personal-best for her in the 3m springboard. Junior Mikaela Gekas-Robinson (Woodbury, New Jersey) took sixth in the finals, at 228.65, less than a point from fifth place.
Chiulli and Rokop finished one-two in the 1m finals Thursday night. Chiulli's 283.00 was nearly 20 points past the Zone-qualifying standard, and Rokop moved up from a third-place standing from the preliminary round to score a 243.65 for her program and take second.
The relays have gone well for the Spiders, as coaches are maneuvering to find the best combinations for these events in preparation for the February conference championship. Richmond took second in the 200 Medley relay, while finishing fourth in the 800 Free and 400 Medley relays and a put together a fifth-place finish in the 200 Free relay to this point.
Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia / William Byrd HS) was sixth in the 200 Free on Friday, just off her season-best time in that event, touching at 1:54.06. It was her second finals appearance of the meet to that point after finishing sixth in the 500 Free Thursday, at 5:04.38, a season-best time so far in that event.
Freshman Nicole Piercy (Newport News, Virginia / Hampton Roads Academy) was a finals qualifier in the 400 IM, with a 4:33.46 time, the first individual event on Friday. She finished eighth in the fastest time in the event by a UR swimmer this season in the event.
In the 100 Fly, Richmond placed two in the finals, with senior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) taking fourth (at 56.17) and sophomore Natalie Dowzicky (Collegeville, Pennsylvania), a half-second behind (56.49) in fifth.
Junior Maggie Pope (Nashville, Tennessee) was the last to qualify for a finals heat Thursday, in the 100 Back. She posted a season-best time of 59.08 in the preliminary heat on her way to the eight-pace finish in the finals.
The Spiders finish the final day Saturday with six more individual events, including the 1650 Free, with the 400 Free relays to conclude the meet.
Players Mentioned
