Penn State Beats Colgate, West Virginia

The Colgate women’s swimming and diving team dropped a pair of decisions in its season opener at McCoy Natatorium on the campus of Penn State.  The Raiders fell to the Nittany Lions 92-21 and to West Virginia 74-39 in a double dual meet.

Kim Pilka (Great Falls, Va.) was the lone Colgate participant to capture a first place finish.  The freshman copped the three-meter event with a score of 244.35 and finished third from the one-meter board (239.00).

Colgate posted a pair of second place efforts on the afternoon.  The 400 medley relay team of Lia Kunnapas ( Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.), Emma Santoro (Falls River, Mass.), Erin McGraw (Penfield, N.Y.) and Caren Guyett (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) swam the sixth fastest time in the program’s history with a 3:50.48 which finished runner-up in the opening race.  In the second event, Erica Derlath (Garden City, N.Y.) out touched WVU’s Kata Fodor by .32 to place second overall in the 1650.  The sophomore finished with a time of 17:05.37, which was the third fastest time at Colgate. 

After swimming the 400 IM, Guyett returned for the next event and finished third in the 200 fly with a 2:03.85, which was just off the top 10 list.  Kunnapas, who was making her collegiate debut for the Raiders, finished third in the 200 back with a time of 2:04.93.

Caitlin Curran (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Santoro finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 200 breast; Kunnapas placed fifth in the 50 free (24.74), while McGraw swam a 52.37 in the 100 free which was good enough for a fifth-place effort as well.

The Raiders return to action November 7th at Boston College.  The meet is scheduled for a noon start in Chestnut Hill.