University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Atlantic 10 Championships
Richmond 2nd After Day One At A-10 Championships
02/19/2015 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Richmond swimming won one of the two relay events, placed third in the other and scored all three divers to sit second overall after day one of the Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships at the SPIRE Institute Wednesday night in Geneva, Ohio.
Richmond has 101 points and sits second to Massachusetts, which scored 139 to open the meet. La Salle is third at 78 and Davidson is fourth with 69.
“I think we might have been too excited tonight,” said UR head coach Matt Barany.
“The new-look A-10 is a mystery. Like all teams, we're still trying to figure it out. We'll take this team score to start the meet.”
The Spiders won the 200 Medley Relay from lane eight for a gold. Sophomore Maggie Pope (Nashville, Tennessee) swam the first leg and was followed by freshman Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia / William Byrd HS), junior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) and the anchor leg by junior Natalya Ares (Potomac, Maryland).
The foursome was seeded eighth and swam in the outermost lane, but it didn't phase them, coming in at more than a full second than the second-fastest unit for the gold.
Between opening-night relays, the women's 1m diving competition was settled, with Richmond putting two divers in the finals. Sophomore Irina Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) finished fifth overall, with a score of 246.65. Freshman Laura Rokop (Carmel, Indiana) took seventh, with a score of 241.50. Sophomore Mikaela Gekas-Robinson also scored for the Spiders, finishing 14th. This was the second-straight season that all three divers scored points in the event.
“The divers were great,” added Barany. “All three scored to get us started. We loved it!”
The Spiders 800 Free relay team finished third to end the night after a record-setting day by a Davidson foursome, which set a new conference record time of 7:16.81 in the event. Richmond was close behind Duquesne for third. Ares and Lane swam both relays, with freshman Hannah Verrette (Marblehead, Massachusetts) and senior Meredith Gouger (Cockeysville, Maryland) joining this group.
Thursday begins with a bevy of individual events in the preliminary rounds, beginning at 10 a.m. The finals will hit the water at 6:30 p.m. Six different individual events, along with the men's 1m diving, will take place on day two. The 200 Free relay will cap off the night.
Players Mentioned
