Swimming and diving stacks wins after Friday loss

The University of Richmond women's swimming and diving team started its weekend with a close loss against Villanova University on Friday but came back Saturday with back-to-back wins against La Salle University and Fairfield University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Jan. 14: Loss against Villanova. 

The Spiders endured a close-fought defeat against the Wildcats, losing 161-120. In the 200 medley relay, the Spiders secured the second and third place positions with sophomore Katelyn Pennell, senior Maggie Purcell, freshman Abby Fuller, and junior Lauren Medlin at a time of 1:46.30, only 11 seconds behind first place. In third, junior Mattie Williams, junior Sara Greene, junior Claire O’Shaughnessy, and sophomore Lucy Yeomans had a time of 1:49.09. 

In the women’s 50 yard freestyle, Fuller placed first, defeating Villanova by less than a second. Fuller also placed second for Richmond in the 100-yard butterfly, only two seconds behind Villanova. 

Senior Emma Yeakley placed first in the 3m dive with a score of 216.97, beating Villanova by 15.29 points. She placed second in the 1m dive with 210.44 points. 

The Richmond Spiders secured the first four places in the 200-yard individual medley with Purcell placing first at 2:06.73, followed by junior Jenna Miller at 2:12.84, Williams at 2:12.97 and freshman Christina Levins at 2:15.43. 

In the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Richmond placed first and second, with relay A consisting of O’Shaughnessy, Fuller, Yeomans and Medlin with a final time of 3:31.59. Relay B had Pennell, sophomore Alexa Connors, freshman Carstyn Klosterman and senior Grace Palfreyman with a final time of 3:38.87. 

Jan. 15: Victory over La Salle and Fairfield.

The Spiders defeated both La Salle and Fairfield with respective scores of 157-138 and 204-94. In the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, Spiders Pennell, Fuller, Greene and Medlin secured first place with a final time of 1:48.36. Williams, O’Shaughnessy, Levins and Yeomans secured third place with 1:50.83. 

Connors placed second in the 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 10:38.61 and Palfreyman close behind in third. In the 200-yard freestyle, O’Shaughnessy and Yeomans placed in second and third, only a second apart from one another and four seconds behind first place.

Pennell and Klosterman, milliseconds apart from each other placed second and third in the 100-yard backstroke with times of 59.37 and 59.94. In the 100 yard breaststroke, Purcell and Greene placed first and second with times of 1:06.50 and 1:07.88. 

Medlin and Purcell, also milliseconds apart from each other, placed first and second in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 24.36 and 24.89.

In the 1m dive, Yeakley placed third, scoring only ten points behind Fairfield in second. Fuller defeated LaSalle in the 100-yard freestyle by 45 milliseconds and placed first place with a time of 53.01. 

Miller placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:13.75, only three seconds behind LaSalle in first. In the 200 yard breaststroke, Purcell and Levins placed first and second, only five seconds apart from one another. 

Lastly, the Spiders wrapped up the event with first and second place in the 400-yard free relay with Fuller, Connors, Yeomans and Pennell in first at 3:34.75. Purcell, Medlin, Palfreyman, and O’Shaughnessy came in second at 3:35.17.

The Spiders swimming and diving team will compete again at 4 p.m. on Jan. 28 against the James Madison University Dukes. 

Contact Sports Co-Editor Andrew Cardounel at andrew.cardounel@richmond.edu.