Swim and Dive Brings Home its 16th Atlantic 10 Championship

Saturday, April 17

Geneva, Ohio

University of Richmond

Atlantic 10 Championships

Photo by: Atlantic 10 Conference

Swim and Dive Brings Home its 16th Atlantic 10 Championship

04/17/2021 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Complete Results

GENEVA, Ohio – Richmond Swimming and Diving completed its championship run Saturday evening at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva. The Spiders won their 16th Atlantic 10 Championship scoring 687.5 points, the most points for the winning team since the Spiders scored 737 during 2013 meet. Head Coach Matt Barany was named the Atlantic 10's Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career as he guided the Spiders to their 12th conference championship during his tenure.

"These women were on fire this week." Head coach Matt Barany said, "We had 39 personal-best times this week. They were outrageously good.. When we look back at this time, I think a lot of people will try to block out COVID and all that went with it from their memory. But we're going to hold on to these memories for a long time. I'm extremely proud of these ladies, how they have performed not only at this meet, but how they've handled this entire year is truly remarkable."

Freshman Alexa Connors (Kingston, Mass) was named the meet's Most Outstanding Rookie Performer for her efforts. The freshman finished with three silver medals and tallied points as part of the 800 freestyle relay and the fourth-place 200 freestyle relay team. In the individual events, Connors took silver in the 500 freestyle and the 1650 freestyle while winning sixth place in the 200 freestyle race.

Along with the conference championship trophy, the Spiders will be bringing home 15 individual medals. Junior Maggie Purcell highlighted the individual award winners, having won gold in the 200 IM and the 200-breaststroke, bronze in the 400 IM and was part of three medal-winning relay teams. Sophomore Lauren Medlin (Cary, N.C.) made her mark in the freestyle races. She took first and set a school record in the 100 freestyle and was the lead leg of the 400 freestyle relay that took first. She finished third in the 50 freestyle and added a pair of fourth place finishing in the 200 freestyle and as part of the 200-freestyle relay.

On the final day of competition, the Spiders left no doubt about who the top team in the conference was, finishing with a medal in every event, and three school records. Richmond scored a pair of individual school records as Medlin earned the meet and the program's top time in the 100 freestyle at 49.61. Claire O'Shaughnessy (Laurel, Md.) finished in third in the 100 butterfly, but earned the program's best time of 1:59.53.

Purcell defended her 200-breaststroke crown with another gold medal performance, finishing first with a time of 2:13.73. Connors added a silver finish with the second-best time in the meet and program history in the 1650 freestyle, finishing in 16:41.62.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Medlin, Purcell, Pennell and O'Shaughnessy put the cherry on top of a fantastic meet, winning the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:21.03, breaking a school record that had held for a decade.

During the four-day event, Richmond had 18 of 19 letterwinners points to ensure the victory. Along with Saturday's medalists, Richmond scored silvers in the 200-medley relay, the 800-freestyle relay and the 400-medley relay. O'Shaughnessy as well as Katelyn Pennell (Eden Prairie, Minn.) taking silver in the 200-backstroke. Sara Greene (Tega Cay, S.C.) and Katelyn Pennell (Eden Prairie, Minn.) all brought home hardware, winning bronze in the 100-butterfly, the 100-breaststroke and the 100-backstroke, respectively.

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