Dukes Take Down Tigers

Saturday, October 19

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

175.5

124.5

Towson

10/19/2019 6:42:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Led by dominant freestyle and diving performances, James Madison swimming & diving defeated the Towson Tigers, 175.5-124.5, on Saturday afternoon in Savage Natatorium.

JMU improved its Colonial Athletic Association record to 2-0 on the season.

Junior Faith Anderson was stellar on the boards, earning career-best marks en route to first-place finishes in the 1- and 3-meter events while JMU went top-5 in both events, earning six NCAA Zone qualifying scores.

The Dukes were strong in freestyle events, including a relay win and five individual events. For the second-straight meet, junior Julianna Jones won both the 500 and 1000 free events while senior Bonnie Zhang won three – 50, 100 and 200 free.

MEET NOTES
- JMU began the meet taking first and third in the 200 freestyle relay as Sydney Kirsch, Anna Ober, MacKenzie Gring and Bonnie Zhang made up the winning team with a time of 1:36.15.
- Senior Megan Marsh finished first in the 200 individual medley (2:06.70), followed by freshman Karen Siddoway who tied for second with a time of 2:07.72.
- Anderson captured a first-place finish in the 3-meter event with a score of 311.18 while Sarah Stim finished second (284.93), Hope Bryum in third (266.55), Emily Gross in fourth (260.03) and Lindsey Hammar in fifth (243.83).
- The Dukes went top-3 in the 500 freestyle with Jones in first (5:03.74), Jill Santiago in second (5:05.22) and Bailey Butler in third (5:07.70).
- Marsh earned a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.51) and 200 breaststroke (2:26.78) while senior Hannah Lagod claimed fourth in the 200 (2:29.09).
- The freshmen were strong in the 200 backstroke as Isabel Anbar clocked in a time of 2:02.31 for first and Alaina Park followed at 2:06.62.
- Claiming her second win of the day, Anderson won the 1-meter event with a 303.98 mark while Stim took second (292.65), Byrum in third (286.95), Gross in fourth (279.46) and Hammar in fifth (257.93).
- Junior Paige Assaid touched the wall at 58.57 for a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke and Anbar earned third (58.97).
- JMU went 1,2,3 in the 200 freestyle, with Zhang in first (1:51.93), Santiago (1:54.84) and Siddoway (1:55.15).
- Jones claimed the top spot in the 1000 at 10:24.99 and Butler took second at 10:32.26.
- JMU closed out the dual meet finishing second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:58.56. The JMU "A" team was composed of Assaid, Marsh, Morgan Whaley and Kirsch.

QUOTING COACH PEDERSEN
"We've been talking with our girls about not just defining success based on just results – we wanted to be process oriented. In these first seven or eight weeks of our season, there has been a lot of hard work put towards technique work while intense training. For the most part, I thought we did a great job of being process oriented. We the standard order of events, but in reverse order which we did once last year, and it made the end of the meet really challenging. Overall, I'm really happy with how the girls applied themselves and they made great strides coming together as a unit."

"The bar of expectation for our next competition will be raised bit, having three conference foes here, but we're going to continue to work on technique and growing together as a team."

UP NEXT
The Dukes are back in action on Saturday, Nov. 2 as JMU hosts the CAA Pod Meet in Savage Natatorium. William & Mary, Delaware and UNCW will travel to participate in the two-day long meet.