James Madison swimming and diving closed out its dual meet schedule with a double-dual competition at Pittsburgh, Saturday. JMU went 1-1 in the meet, defeating Denison, 216-84, while falling to Pittsburgh, 167-133 at Trees Pool.
With the split Madison finishes its dual schedule with a 7-4 record. Pittsburgh went 2-0 on the day and improved to 7-2 while Denison dropped both competitions to fall to 5-7.
The Dukes won six of the 16 events on Saturday, including both relay events and four individual titles. Redshirt freshman diver Taryn McLaughlin (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) led the way on the diving boards placing first on the one-meter board and second on the three-meter. The rookie scored 264.20 points on in the one-meter event to outscore the field by nearly 10 points. She totaled 254.40 points in the three-meter dive, narrowly getting edged out by Pittsburgh’s Sam Winkelmann. Sophomore Carly Alexander (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) was fourth on the three-meter with 238.75 points while junior Alex Savage (Carrolton, Texas/Lewisville Hebron) placed third on the one-meter board with 245.25 points.
Three swimmers claimed event titles for JMU in the swimming events. Junior Sin Hye Won (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) continued her domination of the breaststroke this season, placing first in the 100-yard breaststroke. She finished with a time of 1:03.48 and added a second-place showing in the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.72.
Senior Kelsey Holmgaard (Roanoke, Va./George Mason) claimed victory in the 200-yard individual medley. She outraced the field in a time of 2:05.79 to claim her second victory in that event this season.
Junior Susanne Gingher (Boalsburg, Pa./State College Area) finished first three times on Saturday. She won the 50-yard freestyle while also participating on both winning relay teams for the Dukes. She turned in a time of 23.58 to win the 50 freestyle. She swam the anchor leg for the team that won the 200 medley relay, joining sophomore Kacy Edsall (Roanoke, Va./William Byrd), Won and senior Shannon Dubay (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) to complete the event in a time of 1:42.98.
Gingher teamed up with Holmgaard and sophomores Camilla Czulada (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and Carli Molano (Centreville, Va./Westfield) to touch the wall at 3:28.79 to close the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle. It was the ninth-fastest time in school-history in the event.
The Dukes are off until Feb. 8 when the diving team returns for a diving-only meet at Clemson. The swimming team joins them for the Cavalier Invitational on Feb. 14-15 in Charlottesville, Va.
