Swimming and Diving Competes on the First Day of the Mason Invitational

Friday, March 19

Fairfax, VA

University of Richmond

George Mason

Photo by: Spiders Athletics

Swimming and Diving Competes on the First Day of the Mason Invitational

03/19/2021 | Women's Swimming & Diving

FAIRFAX, Va. – The entirety of the Richmond swimming and diving was in action for the second time this season Friday afternoon as the Spiders made the trip up to Fairfax for the first day of the Mason Invitational, hosted by George Mason. The Spiders, alongside the host Patriots and the UMBC Retrievers, competed in 12 events today, without team scores being tabulated.

Of the 12 events that took place on the first day of competition, the Spiders earned eight first-place finishes, and 25 top five finishes.

Earning first place finishes were Maggie Purcell (Southampton, N.Y.) in the 200 IM (2:04.99), the 100 breaststroke (1:05.18) and the 200 freestyle (1:53.55), Claire O'Shaughnessy (Laurel, Md.) in the 500 freestyle (5:08.29), Alexa Connors (Kingston, Mass.) in the 1650 freestyle (17:17.26), Katelyn Pennell (Eden Prairie, Minn.) in the 200 backstroke (2:04.32) and Lauren Medlin (Cary, N.C.) in the 100 freestyle (51.29).

Richmond had six second place finishes. Ellie Ronan (Marblehead, Mass.) took silver in the 200 IM (2:08.14). Emma Martin (Knoxville, Tenn.) was second in the 400 IM (4:37.43), Megan Carson (Apex, N.C.) in the 200 free (1:54.51), Ainsley Everett (The Woodlands, Texas) in the 100 butterfly (58.50), Grace Palfreyman (Bridgewater, N.J.) in the 1650 freestyle (17:51.90), Williams in the 200 backstroke (2:06.81). O'Shaughnessy finished out the second-place finishes with a time of 2:06.53 in the 200 butterfly.

Rounding out the top five finishes on the first day of the invitational were Connors in the 200 IM, (5^th – 2:10.88), Petra Mijic (Split, Croatia) in the 500 freestyle (3^rd – 5:20.09), Sara Greene (Tega Cay, S.C.) in the 100 breaststroke (3^rd – 1:06.97) and Carson in the 200 backstroke (4^th – 2:11.00).

Right behind Everett in the 100 butterfly were Ronan (58.89), Rachel Pak (Fairfax, Va.) (59.43) and Pennell (1:00.27), taking third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Jenna Miller (Annapolis, Md.) and Jenna Carastro (Vineland, N.J.) went back-to-back in the 200 breaststroke, taking third (2:27.28) and 4^th (2:28.08), respectively. The final top five finishes came from Martin and Pak, taking third (2:09.45) and fourth (2:12.37) in the 200 butterfly.

The Spiders will look to duplicate their success tomorrow as they are back in action in the final day of the Mason Invitational in Fairfax.

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