STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan's first and only home swimming & diving meet of the season gave the Lady Baron's a chance to compare themselves to the conference's defending champion, Cabrini College. Franciscan held their own against the Cavaliers, losing 113 – 88, and beat Bethany College 128-58, despite the absence of diver Kelly Rankin and tiredness of having swum a meet the day before.

"We didn't have a diver today, so that's automatic points for us when she gets back, and its tough because this our second meet this weekend so the girls are really tired," Head Coach Kateri Lang said. "It's a significant points difference but I'm not discouraged by it. I'm excited about where will be when we see each other at champs."

Another exciting element of the meet was the performances of freshman swimmers Mara Grabski and Elizabeth McNulty. The two sprinters dominated a handful of events and while dropping at least a second off their previous best times.

McNulty quickly established herself as the top fly swimmer in the pool, getting out to an insurmountable lead in the 50 IM, an event she won easily with a time of 2:22.627. She then dominated the 200 fly, dropping a second off her previous best with a time of 1:02.706.

"In every event that she swims she takes first place," Lang said. "Her butterfly is so strong and it's getting better. She's learned so much and is still learning."

Grabski won crucial points for FUS in the 100 yard breastroke, finishing well ahead of the second place finisher with a time 1:16.160. Then, in the final event of the meet, Grabski led Franciscan to a win in the 400 freestyle relay by catching up to leading swimmer in the third leg of the relay and giving McNulty a sizable lead for the final leg.

"Looking back to that 400 relay, she just nailed it," Lang said. "She has so much potential and she really stepped it up today."

While the two freshmen stole the show in the pool with their performances, the day was also spent honoring the team's three senior swimmers, Anna Williams, Katie Oursler and Maria Giuliani.

"We have strong leadership in our three seniors," Lang said. "And it's tough because they're three against ten newcomers on the team."

With the weekend's two meets finished the Lady Barons now have a long break before their next meet on January 10, 2015. The team expects to get a boost in scoring with the return of AMCC Diver of the Year, Kelly Rankin from studying abroad. They will next travel to face conference opponents at the University of Pitt-Bradford.