Dukes Open 2018 with Win Over Richmond on Senior Day

Saturday, January 13

Harrisonburg, Va.

NOON

James Madison University

184

125

Richmond

1/13/2018 4:59:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

@JMUSwimDive Meet Results Schedule and Results Statistics

Harrisonburg, Va. – Placing first in 13 of 17 events, James Madison swimming and diving opened the 2018 campaign with a 184.0-125.0 victory over Richmond inside the Savage Natatorium on senior day Saturday afternoon. The Dukes improve to 6-2 overall while the Spiders fell to 2-3.

Despite having not competed in over seven weeks, James Madison came of the blocks strong with 31 top-three finishes over 17 events. Sophomore Bonnie Zhang took home two first place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, respectively. Her performance of 1:50.54 in the 200 freestyle was good for a new Savage Natatorium pool record, beating the previous record, 1:50.83.

MEET NOTES

The Dukes opened the afternoon with a first place finish in the 200 medley relay as Abby Ortman, Megan Marsh, Anna Ober and Zhang teamed up for a 1:45.56 finish. This mark is the best by a Dukes' relay team this year in the event.
Senior Quinn MacMillan clocked in at 10:19.05 in the 1000 freestyle, good for a first place finish, as she finished nine seconds ahead of the next competitor. MacMillan also took home two second place finishes in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
JMU took home second and third in the 200 IM as Katie Parker and Paige Assaid led the Dukes with a 2:08.14 and 2:10.56 finish, respectively.
In the fourth event of the day, the Dukes swept the top-three spots in the 50 freestyle: Jillian Breeger (23.90), Ober (24.32) and Sydney Kirsch (24.34).
On the boards, Hope Byrum led the Dukes with first place finishes in both the 1 and 3 meter competitions. She set NCAA Zone qualifying marks in both events, finishing the 3 meter board with a 292.73 mark and the 1 meter board with a 277.65 mark.
Emily Gross also had a solid day on the boards finishing third in the 3 meter competition with 257.77 points and finishing second on the 1 meter board with a NCAA Zone qualifying mark of 266.70.
Amy Plocharczyk rounded out the sweep on the 1 meter boards with a third place finish with 256.96 points.
Mackenzie Gring out touched her Richmond competitor by one one hundredth of a second in the 100 butterfly to win the event in 59.26.
The Dukes took the top four spots in the 200 freestyle led by Zhang's (1:50.54) record breaking performance followed by MacMillan (1:52.26), Julianna Jones (1:54.53) and Kristie Darmody (1:55.30).
Parker swam a season best mark of 1:05.42 in the 100 breaststroke, closely followed by teammate Megan Marsh who touched second in 1:06.05.
In the 100 backstroke the Dukes finished first and second led by senior Abby Ortman (57.78) and freshman Paige Assaid (58.13).
The Dukes placed first and second in the 400 freestyle relay led by a 3:30.76 finish from Breeger, Kirsch, Zhang ad MacMillan.
Jones sealed another first place victory for the Dukes with a 5:04.76 finish in the 500 freestyle.
The Dukes swept the 100 yard freestyle as Zhang (51.50) and MacMillan (52.98) took first and second while senior Katie Barney touched third in 54.16.
The Spiders tried to comeback late as they took home the top-three spots in the 50 breaststroke and 50 butterfly before taking home first and second in the final event of the day in the 500 freestyle. The late rally fell short as it wasn't enough to overcome the strong performances from the Dukes.

PHOTO OF THE MEET
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(view full gallery here)

QUOTING COACH PEDERSEN
"Richmond is a great team coached by a great JMU swimming and diving alumni who did a lot for this program, so to have a very competitive team travel to us is extremely helpful in our growth near the end of the season leading up to the conference championship. I was really happy with the way our girls competed after having a prolonged break from any competition. They were anxious to compete after a lot of hard work and training but they were also excited to do it for their senior leaders today. Those two things gave us a lot of motivation and energy to just get back on the pool deck and compete."

UP NEXT
The Dukes return to the water tomorrow (Jan. 14) as they head north to Pennsylvania for a dual meet against Bucknell. Action is slated to begin at 1 p.m.