Day Two: Atlantic 10 Championships

Thursday, February 21

Geneva, Ohio

University of Richmond

Atlantic 10 Championships

Photo by: Keith Lucas

02/21/2019 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Geneva, Ohio - Day two of the Atlantic 10 Championships saw ten Spider finals entries, several personal records, and a huge team effort in all events.

The prelim swimming events opened with the 500 free, 200 individual medley, and the 50 free. Senior Nicole Piercy won Heat 5 of the 500 Free with a time of 4:54.01, advancing to finals, while fellow senior Lauren Wallace finished with a PR time of 4:56.66 and advanced to the consolation finals. In the 200 individual medley, four Spiders raced and all four advanced to final events. In the 50 Free, freshman Kristine Mihm won her heat with a time of 23.91 - a PR. Eliza Manning put up a time of 23.64, shy of her PR, but a season best. Hannah Gouger raced and set a time of 23.09 - a PR tied for third fastest time in program history in the event.

The diving prelims saw five Richmond divers face a field of 30 divers. Sophomore Natalie Hawley had a strong performance, freshman Emma Yeakley exceeded her seeded rank and barely missed the cut-off for finals, finishing in 17th. Junior Maddy Chao edged out the competition with a score of 232.40 to take eighth and advance to finals. Sophomore Alex Baran took ninth (232.25) and junior Sydney Weiskopf fifteenth (210.80) advanced to consolation finals to score points for the Spiders. In consolation finals, Weiskopf came in fourth (twelfth overall) and Baran came in sixth (14th overall).

Finals saw ten Spider entries slated against stiff competition. In the 500 free, Wallace started the day with a personal record of 4:58.13, beat it in the prelims by nearly two seconds and crushed it in the finals by nearly four seconds to set a PR of 4:52.91. The time gave the win to Wallace for the consolation finals and also put her on the top ten program record list in seventh place. Piercy followed Wallace's performance in the 500 free, finishing second overall with a PR of 4:51.63, improving upon her place in fourth on the program record list. In the 200 IM, Ellie Ronan and Lexie Gilbert stepped up into the consolation finals. Both swimmers set a PR: Ronan with a time of 2:03.83 and Gilbert in 2:03.85. The times they posted put them in ninth and tenth respectively in the top ten program record list. Morgan Soulia and Maggie Purcell competed in the 200IM finals. Soulia posting a time of 2:02.24 taking sixth and Purcell going 2:04.27 to take eighth overall with a PR. The 50 free saw Manning go 23.50 to win the consolation finals. Gouger, coming off of her PR in prelims, set a time of 23.10 taking third overall to medal for the Spiders. In the diving finals, Chao, seeded eighth, scored 249.8 to take seventh overall. The final event of the night was the 200 free relay, Gouger, Manning, Mihm and Purcell combined for a time of 1:33.55 to take fifth overall.

The competition continues tomorrow with prelims starting at 10am and finals slated to begin at 6:30pm. Don't forget to follow your Spiders on social media @SpiderSwimDive.