Dukes Open Season With Home Victory Over the Herd

Saturday, January 30

Harrisonburg, Va.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

172

126

Marshall

1/30/2021 7:04:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

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Harrisonburg, Va. – James Madison swimming & diving opened the 2020-21 season with a home victory over Marshall, 172-126, on Saturday afternoon. The Dukes picked up 11 first place finishes including both diving events.

"First I want to thank Marshall, their administration, coaching staff and program," said head coach Dane Pedersen. "Traveling and competing in these uncertain times has proven to be a great challenge so I cannot thank them enough for allowing us to host them and for competing against us. Likewise I'd also like to thank the support and leadership of our athletic administration and sports medicine department. For most of our team it has almost been a full calendar year since they last competed. It was nice to see the girls for a few hours and enjoy being around each other in a racing and competitive environment."

JMU opened the meet with a victory from Cameron Gring, Madison Cottrell, Morgan Whaley and Jill Santiago in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:51.47. Gring broke the Savage Pool record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.66 when she led the relay. The record was previously held by Bonnie Zhang with a time of 55.80. Seniors Julianna Jones and Bailey Butler kept the moment going in the 1650-yard freestyle event by claiming first and second place. Jones finished with a time of 17:29.88 and Butler finished with 17:48.89. The two seniors claimed the top two spots in the 500-yard freestyle event, Jones taking first and Butler claiming second.

The Dukes swept the 200-yard freestyle with Santiago taking first, followed by Gring in second and Sidney Whitfield in third. Alaina Park led the way for JMU in the 100-yard backstroke taking first with a time of 57.66, followed by teammates Lauren Aylmer in second and Isabel Anbar in the third spot. Cottrell competed in the breaststroke events for the team taking first in the 100-yard with a time of 1:06.46 and second in the 200-yard.

Senior Paige Assaid battled in the sprint freestyle events placing second in the 50-yard (24.77) and first in the 100-yard (52.66). Gring took home two individual first place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.78) and 200-yard individual medley relay (2:06.78).

The JMU divers dominated the boards taking top spot on both. Senior diver Sarah Stim scored 283.58 on the 3-meter board to win the event while also producing her first NCAA Zone A qualifying score of the season. Freshman Lexi Lehman took home her first collegiate win on the 1-meter with a score of 280.12 and placed second on the 3-meter. Sami Ullman held her own the boards taking third on in both events.

"We were all over the place, but I'm not really worried about it. We have plenty of time to shore up deficiencies. This meet provided great assessment and feedback as we move forward toward our conference championships."

UP NEXT
James Madison swim will take a road trip to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the Virginia Invite on Feb. 5-7.