Dukes Dominate CAA Pod Meet

Saturday, November 2

Harrisonburg, Va.

9:30 a.m.

James Madison University

272

UNCW

11/3/2019 12:01:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison swimming & diving carried momentum into the final day of the 2019 Colonial Athletic Association Pod Meet to defeat all three of its opponents by at least 126 points in Savage Natatorium.

The Dukes took down the Tribe (236-110), Seahawks (272-80) and the Blue Hens (254-96) to improve to 5-0 on the season with all wins against league opponents. JMU hasn't lost a CAA regular season meet since 2011.

SWIM SESSION #3
- JMU started to day off strong with a solid performance in the 500 freestyle with first, third, fourth and fifth. Junior Julianna Jones garnered the victory with a time of 5:00.95 while Jill Santiago finished in third (5:06.41), Bailey Butler in fourth (5:06.45) and Sidney Whitfield in fifth (5:08.60).
- Freshman Isabel Anbar captured her second first-place finish of the meet, winning the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:00.98 – just four hundredths of a second from tying the pool record. Sophomore Morgan Whaley finish in second, clocking in at 2:02.91.
- Senior Bonnie Zhang took home first place in the 100 freestyle, breaking the pool record she set last year (50.15 on Oct. 18, 2018) with a time of 49.97.
- In the 200 breaststroke, senior Megan Marsh came in second place, touching the wall at 2:24.99.
- Whaley swept the butterfly events in the meet, securing a first-place finish in the 200 with a time of 2:06.38 while freshman Sarah Gaudet finished in fourth (2:10.38).
- JMU closed out the meet on a high note with a strong anchor leg pushing the Dukes to victory as Santiago, Sydney Kirsch, Karen Siddoway and Zhang clocked a time of 3:27.71 in the 400 freestyle relay.

RECAPPING DAY 1 RESULTS
The Dukes took home 10 of 13 events, including a sweep on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards in which Faith Anderson won both. Marsh led the Dukes with two individual wins as well first place in the 400 medley relay while Jones broke the pool record in the 1650 freestyle, clocking in a time of 16:59.82.

QUOTING COACH PEDERSEN
"You always appreciate wins, especially against CAA competition, but I was really happy with how the girls raced and dove overall. I thought they competed really well and they always do at home. It's a lot of competing – three swim sessions and a diving session – in a day and a half is a lot…it's hard to stay focused, but it's great preparation for CAAs in February."

"Putting on a meet like this is a huge undertaking when you have 200-220 student-athletes on deck. Because of everyone working behind the scenes, such as Patrick Ogden and his staff, the meet was able to have a lot of energy. It was intimate, loud – both on the deck and in the stands – and gave everyone a taste of conference will be like."

UP NEXT
The Dukes close out their fall slate as the swimmers travel to Lynchburg, Nov. 22-24 for the Liberty Invitational while the divers travel to Morgantown for the West Virginia Invitational Nov. 22-23.