Queens
The Queens University of Charlotte swim teams saw five first place finishes on the men's side as they took a 172.00-90.00 loss to Virginia Tech, and seven first place finishes on the women's side as the team topped the University of Richmond 188.00-106.00 and fell to Virginia Tech 188.00-106.00. The Royals competition at Virginia Tech on Friday, October 30, 2015, saw the team put together a string of impressive swims against two NCAA Division I schools.
Virginia Tech would go on to take a 237.00-62.00 win over Richmond, who only competed on the women's side of the meet.
The women saw Meridith Boudreaux, Patricia-Castro Ortega, Kyrie Dobson, and Caroline Arakelian all take individual first place swims. The men would see Dion Dreesens, Rostyslav Fedyna, and Nicholas Arakelian take first place finishes for the team. The Royals also saw the women's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay comprised of Castro-Ortega, Dobson, Mary Claire Beaver, and Shelly Prayson take a first place and provisional mark of 1:35.32.
Boudreaux started the team's success topping the pool with a 10:18.85 swim for the 1000 Yard Freestyle. Her NCAA "B" Standard cut would place her at the top of division II if times hold. Lauren Frizzell took third for the event with a time of 10:31.20 to come just below the NCAA "B" Standard time.
Castro-Ortega soared to the top in the 200 Yard Freestyle, taking a 1:48.39 to surpass her previous swim for the fastest time in the event, this season, for DII. Dreesens would take the guys side of the event with a 1:39.40 to claim the race. Ben Taylor made it a 1-2 finish as he took second place with a time of 1:42.42.
Fedyna capitalized on the 100 Yard Breaststroke to see his way to the wall with a 55.67 time for first place. He would follow this up later in the night with a first place swim in the 200 Yard Breaststroke taking a 2:04.22 for the race.
In her second first-place swim of the meet, Castro-Ortega topped the pool with a 2:02.83 in the 200 Yard Butterfly. Her time was almost two second faster than the competition as she took NCAA "B" Standard time. She also places atop DII if times hold through the weekend.
Dobson claimed first in the 50 Yard Freestyle flying across the pool for a time of 23.88. It would fall under a NCAA "B" time.
Castro-Ortega and Dobson combined in the 100 Freestyle to take the top two spots as Castro-Ortega took lead with a 51.30. Dobson followed with a 51.74 for the second place finish. Both swims would qualify for an NCAA "B" Standard time.
C. Arakelian took her a first place swim for the team in the 200 Yard Backstroke. C. Arakelian touched with a 2:00.19 to strengthen her spot as No. 1 in DII for the swim.
Dreesens took a first place finish with a 49.94 in the 100 Yard Butterfly just before N. Arakelian concluded the individual races for the team with a first place finish in the 400 Yard Individual Medley. N. Arakelian touched with a 3:59.48, NCAA "B" Standard time.
N. Arakelian also added second place swim to his night in the 1000 Yard Freestyle with Hector Tricas finishing right behind him for the third place spot in the race. N. Arakelian touched with a 9:29.75 finish for an NCAA "B" Standard time while Tricas secured a time of 9:38.41.
Tricas took the second place spot in the 200 Yard Butterfly with a 1:53.52 as Ben Mayes found a second place swim in the 100 Freestyle with a 46.38. Brittney Phelan would take a second place finish in the 200 Breaststroke with a 2:22.10.
Boudreaux added another second place, individual swim to the team's night as she took a 5:0325 in the 500 Yard Freestyle to secure a NCAA "B" Standard time. C. Arakelian touched for a 4:31.72 in the 400 Yard Individual Medley. Her time would place her second in the meet and give her a NCAA "B" Standard time.
Early that night the men's 400 Yard Medley Relay of Zachary Phelps, Fedyna, Dreesens, and Mayes, respectively, took a second place finish with a 3:22.12 while the women's team of Amanda Tipton, Phelan, Josephina Lorda, and Hannah Craig touched for third place with a 3:56.39. Both would count as provisional times.
The team concluded the meet with the men's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay securing a 1:23.42 second place finish. Mayes, Dreesens, Zachary Phelps, and Taylor, respectively, made up the relay team as they took a provisional time for the race.
The team will host its first home meet on November 13th, as they welcome Wingate University to the Levine Aquatic Center.
Richmond
Richmond swimming and diving took part in a meet resulting in a pair of dual scores Friday night, taking on Queens University from Charlotte and Virginia Tech at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center just outside of Blacksburg, Virginia. The Spiders fell 237-62 to Virginia Tech, and 188-106 to Queens during the evening.
Senior Melissa Ross (Warrington, Pennsylvania) won over Queens and finished second against Virginia Tech in, with a time of 2:04.80 the 200 Fly.
Junior Irinia Chiulli (Westwood, Massachusetts) posted a season-best 290.47 from the 3m board, finishing second against Virginia Tech (Queens does not have a diving squad). Sophomore Laura Rokop (Wildwood, Missouri) posted a personal-best score of 261.67 in the 3m program.
“I think today shows we still have a lot of work to do,” said diving coach Sean Letsinger. “As a whole, I was happy with our effort on three meter. We will be working hard to make our one-meter dives more consistent. I look forward to the opportunity to better that result in Greensboro.”
Later in the evening, senior Kelley Yang (Ellicott City, Maryland) won against Queens and finished second to the Hokies with a time of 57.73 in the 100 Fly. Ross was second to her in the Queens dual with a 59.16 time.
Freshman Nicole Piercy was Richmond’s top finisher in the 1000 Free, at 10:36.35
The divers will take on Clemson and East Carolina at a meet in Greensboro, North Carolina on Saturday, November 7. The whole team is back in action at the Patriot Invite, hosted by George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia from November 19-21.
