Junior Melissa Ross (Warrington, Pennsylvania) and freshman Erin Barry (Millington, New Jersey) were two Spiders to win early individual events as Richmond swimming competed in its last dual meet of the season in a 147-110 loss at Villanova Friday at the Villanova Swim Complex.
“We’ve got a few weeks to make things happen for the A-10 meet,” said UR head coach Matt Barany.
The Spiders’ first win came in the fifth event, with UR touching 1-2-3. Reigning A-10 Rookie of the Week Annie Lane (Vinton, Virginia / William Byrd HS) won the 100 Breast with a time of 1:07.14, a second ahead of Barry, who was a little more than a second ahead of sophomore Erin Dunstan (New Canaan, Connecticut) for 16 points for the team.
Ross then won the next event, the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:04.71, coming in over a second faster than the next finisher. She later finished third in the 100 Fly for three more UR points.
Barry score nine points for the Spiders by posting a time of 2:18.90 in the 200 Breast, beating her team-best time of the season by about a second and a half. Dunstan placed second, coming in at 2:25.58, and beat her own season-best time by a second and a half as well.
Senior Meredith Gouger (Cockeysville, Maryland) shaved six-tenths of a second off her previous season-best time in the final individual event of the day, the 200 IM, touching at 2:10.56 in that race.
Richmond is back to training until the season’s biggest meet, the Atlantic 10 Championships, which begin Wednesday, February 18. The four-day event returns to Geneva, Ohio and the SPIRE Institute, where it was held for the first time last season. Richmond is the four-time defending champion at this event.
