Dukes Take Home Eighth at Frank Elm Invite

Friday, November 21

Piscataway, N.J.

James Madison University

Frank Elm Invite (Swimming Only)

11/23/2014 9:44:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The James Madison swimming team wrapped up competition at the Frank Elm Invite at Rutgers University on Sunday evening, taking home eighth place to conclude its fall schedule.

The Dukes, who entered the day in eighth as well, finished with 657 points across the three days 75 points ahead of the next team and less than five points behind seventh-place Columbia, which had 661.5.

JMU started out Sunday with a pair of scoring performances, as senior Aimee Hooper and sophomore Claire Adkins both posted standout times in the 1650 freestyle. Hooper clocked a 17:21.23 to take 13th place, while Adkins was just behind in 17:33.96, good for 17th place.

Another pair of Dukes scored for JMU in the 200 backstroke, as freshman Courtney Clarke took third in the "C" final with a time of 2:06.67 and freshman Abby Ortman one second behind in fifth place with a time of 2:07.67.

Junior Camilla Czulada turned in the best individual performance of the day for the Dukes, taking home fifth place in the "A" final of the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.98. Senior Susanne Gingher (16th, 53.74) and sophomore Shannon Harper (22nd, 53.26) also scored for the Dukes in the event.

In the 200 breast, senior Sin Hye Won turned in another standout performance, taking 12th in 2:22.26, while freshman Katie Parker won the "C" final of the event in 2:23.46 to pick up nine points for the Dukes.

Junior Cameron Martin got a victory of her own, capturing first in the "B" final of the 200 butterfly in 2:06.49, while Hooper scored again for JMU, taking 14th in 2:09.15.

JMU wrapped up the meet with a solid performance in the 400 freestyle relay, as Czulada, Carli Molano, Harper and Quinn MacMillan took home sixth place in 3:30.84, less than a second behind the fifth place team.

"I was very pleased, overall, with how our girls competed and raced throughout the weekend," Head Coach Dane Pedersen said. "I thought our energy and performance got better through each session. We are doing some good things from a competing standpoint at a very difficult time in our training."

Having wrapped up their fall slate of events, the Dukes will not be back in the competition pool until the spring. After extensive training during the winter, JMU will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host Liberty at the Savage Natatorium in the Dukes' first home event of the 2014-15 schedule.