Richmond captured a close win against George Washington on Saturday.
Richmond Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The University of Richmond swimming and diving program closed out their 2016 slate with a victory over Atlantic 10 foe George Washington, 150-148.
Freshman Virginia Marsh won both the 1,000 free and the 500 free at 10:34.46 and 5:08.90, respectively. In the 500 free, the Spiders took the top three spots with Marsh, junior Annie Lane and sophomore Nicole Piercy.
Marsh also finished in second in the 100 free just a second behind the Colonials' Emily Zhang, who leads the A-10 in the event.
Freshman Hannah Gouger won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:06.01. Junior Erin Barry won a pair of races in the 100 breast stroke clocking a time of 1:07.05 and the 200 breast stroke at 2:21.50. Senior Hannah Matheson took second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:09.26.
The divers swept both the 1M and 3M events with senior Irinia Chiulli leading the way. In the 1M the Spiders placed four in the top five in the event with freshman Sydney Weiskopf, junior Laura Rokop and freshman Maddy Chao. Rokop and Weiskopf rounded out the top three in the 3M.
In the 200 free, Lane led the Spiders with a third place finish at 1:56.07. Sophomores Lauren Wallace and Morgan Soulia finished in fourth and fifth respectively. Freshman Hannah Gouger placed second in the 100 backstroke at 57.66. Senior Maggie Pope and junior Hannah Verrette also scored points in the event.
Richmond will return to action on January 14 against JMU in the Robins Center Natatorium.
George Washington Press Release
WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's swimming and diving team was edged by six-time defending Atlantic 10 champion Richmond on Saturday, 150-148, at the Charles E. Smith Center Pool in the Colonials' final meet of the fall semester.
The Buff and Blue won nine of the day's 16 events, led by junior Abigail Fusco's three individual wins and one relay victory.
The Colonials started off strong, as the team of Fusco, freshman Jackie Torrez, senior Lauren Lawand rookie Lynn Zhang triumphed in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:48.89.
Fusco went on to win the 100 backstroke in 57.48 before leading a GW sweep of the top three spots in the 50 freestyle. Fusco's time of 25.09 won the event, while sophomore Isobel Walkertook second (25.19) and Lynn Zhang placed third (25.71). Fusco closed her day with a victory in the 100 butterfly (57.93) ahead of Law in third (1:00.00).
"Abbey has really stepped up for us this season and today was another example of her leadership," said head coach James Winchester. "Especially at this point in our training and coming off of a long weekend at the Magnus Cup, I was really happy to see our ladies put up some strong performances against a really good Richmond program."
Sophomore Emily Zhang posted a pair of top solo finishes, touching the wall first in the 200 free (1:53.70) as freshman Gemma Atherley took second (1:54.00) before claiming victory in the 100 free (52.80) while Lynn Zhang finished third (55.08). Both Lynn and Emily Zhang later joined forces with Atherley and Law to win the 400 free relay (3:33.98). The team of junior Hannah Kopydlowski, freshmen Sydney Melnick and Emily Hample and Walker took third in the event (3:42.47).
Torrez rounded out GW's top finishes of the day, first winning the 200 fly in 2:05.75 as Law grabbed third in 2:11.62. Torrez later won the 200 IM (2:07.33) just ahead of Emily Zhang in second (2:07.44). Torrez also placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:22.02) and freshman Courtney Coghill placed third (2:32.07).
Atherley added a second-place finish in the 200 back (2:06.21) to cap her day. Sophomore Lucy Castro's second-place touch in the 1,000 free (10:36.30) and rookie Elisabeth Vogel's third-place grab in the 100 breast (1:11.65) wrapped GW's top performances.
"I'm very happy with today's performances, but it's time to get back to work and put in a good month of training before our next meet," said Winchester. "We've shown that we can compete at a high level, and we're looking forward to carrying these strong performances into the conference meet."
