PITTSBURGH, P.a.— The Lady Barons swimming and diving team finished strong in their last meet of the regular season at Chatham University—going up against the Chatham Cougars and the Penn St. - Altoona Lions. The Lady Barons beat the Lions, a conference opponent, 154-78, and were beat by the Cougars 160-102.
The Lady Barons swam an incredible meet, with multiple swimmers shaving significant time off their events.
"It was an unbelievable meet, we just had girls dropping time left and right," head coach Becky Recznik said.
Junior captain Maria Giuliani took first place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:30.76, dropping nearly two seconds of her previous best time. Giuliani also took first in the 100 freestyle event, swimming a rapid time of 0:57.28.
Fellow captain, senior Molly Coogan, dropped two seconds off her time, and took third place in the 100 breastroke with a final time of 1:16.30. Additionally, she shaved four seconds off her 200 breastroke event, swimming a 2:47.97.
"Molly Coogan had an unbelievable day," Recznik said. "She dropped time on both of her breastroke events."
Other fast times in the 200 breastroke were swam by freshman Naomi Sebastian, who dropped eight seconds off her season best, and junior Allison Kelly, who took five seconds off her personal best.
Freshman distance swimmer Miriam Martin swam the 500 freestyle and dropped twenty seconds off of her previous time, ending with a 6:56.34.
In the 3-meter diving event, sophomore Kelli Rankin beat her personal best with a high score of 205.96.
The Lady Barons move forward from this final meet of the regular season to prepare for the upcoming four day long AMCC Championship meet where they will look to make a run against seven time defending champion Penn St. - Behrend.
"All they have left to really focus on is champs. I think that coming off of a meet that went this well is really great," Recznik said. "I'm really hopeful that with some rest and another week and a half to prepare, they'll continue to just drop times and show up at champs ready to turn some heads."
The AMCC Championship event will begin on Wednesday, February 12 at Grove City College and will continue through Saturday, February 15.
