Dukes Wrap up Four-Team Dual Meet at Pitt

Friday, October 27

Pittsburgh, Pa.

4 P.M.

James Madison University

223

Pittsburgh

10/28/2017 12:44:00 AM | Swimming & Diving

Meet Results @JMUSwimDive

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The James Madison swimming and diving team hit the road for the first time in the young 2017-18 season to face Pitt, Michigan State and Miami in a dual meet. The Dukes recorded a win against Michigan State and dropped hard fought battles to both Pitt and Miami. With today's results, JMU is now 2-2 on the season.

JMU was the only school with two top-five finishes in the 10-team 200-yard medley relay, taking fourth and fifth. The fourth place relay team comprised of Paige Assaid, Katie Parker, Jillian Breeger and Bonnie Zhang who clocked in with a time of 1:46.37. The fifth place squad – Abby Ortman, Megan Marsh, Anna Ober and Mackenzie Gring – touched the wall just five tenths of a second later with a 146.84 finish.

MEET NOTES

Final Team Results: Pitt, L-223-77 – Michigan State, W-151-149 – Miami, L-169-129
Katie Parker notched a second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a 2:05.72 clip.
Sophomore Sydney Kirsch took home third in the 50-yard freestyle with a 24.03 finish, which was just half a second behind the first place finisher.
The Dukes ended the meet with a second place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a 3:28.64 mark. Zhang, Kirsch, Breeger and Quinn MacMillan made up the top-finishing relay team.
In the 200-yard backstroke, senior Abby Ortman grabbed a fourth place finish, touched the wall in 2:06.79.
Nine other Dukes recorded top-five individual finishes throughout the meet, led by Carlyn McNeely who opened the day on the 3-meter diving board with 250.90 mark.

QUOTING COACH PEDERSEN
"In the meet today, four teams were competing at the same time but each dual meet was being scored separately. With this format, there were a lot of moving pieces. Going into the day, we told the girls to just focus on competing against quality opponents and supporting your teammates throughout the meet. They did a great job just going out there and racing and competing on the boards. Our coaching staff was happy with the progress made from the previous meet against Northeastern and loved the positive deck presence the girls provided. This was a very productive meet and a positive step in the progression of our 2017-18 season."

UP NEXT
The Dukes dive back into action in Wilmington, N.C., where they will take on three Colonial Athletic Association teams in the annual CAA Pod Meet. The competition is set to happen over a two day period starting on Saturday, Nov. 4.