BRADFORD, Pa. – Franciscan women's swimming and diving took second place in a tri-meet at the University of Pitt.-Bradford. The Lady Barons got a boost in a surprising way as AMCC Diver of the Year, Kelly Rankin, returned from a semester abroad to help FUS against Bradford and Bethany College.
With no diving events featured in the tri-meet, Rankin spent the last week training for swimming events. The junior finished in fourth in the 200 backstroke and came within three one-hundredths of a second of winning the second heat of the 50 freestyle with a time of 29.57.
"It was just awesome to have her. We told her 'we could really use you doing this' and she just said 'okay!' and did," head coach Kateri Lang said. "I was so impressed. I thought she took first, that's how close her 50 was."
While Rankin added some much needed depth to a Lady Baron squad that is missing four key members, Emily McNulty and senior captain Maria Giuliani led the way in terms of earning points.
McNulty won the 200 IM and 200 Fly, breaking the pool record in the later, with a time of 2:17.12.
"Doing a 200 Fly I'm sure is a circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno and watching her swim it was just so strong," Lang said. "She's exciting to watch because she's just a freshman."
Giuliani continued to dominate mid-distance freestyle events, winning both the 100 and 200 free with junior Anna Williams dropping eight seconds behind her in the 100.
Williams swim served as an example of how well the team as a whole has worked since returning from their Christmas break.
"Its always cool when a girl comes out of the pool and is just radiating and just looks at you like 'that was so good I just want to go back in and do it again'," Lang said of Williams after the 100 free.
The meet was Franciscan's first since November 15 and Lang said the week and a half of two-a-day practices since their return from break has been made the team grow as swimmers and as a team.
"We had a really awesome retreat and just a lot of good team bonding and formative experienced," Lang said. "It's been a really good week and a half."
Those days of bonding and training paid off for FUS in their distance swims, which haven't been their strength historically. Emily Allsteadt finished second in the 1,000 free and won the 500 free with Abby Commerford finishing just behind in the 500.
"She's really working hard and stepping it up. She's a natural leader and she's someone I'm excited to see over the rest of her years at Franciscan," Lang said of Allsteadt.
Allsteadt, and the rest of the Lady Barons will look to continue to grow as they prepare for their next meet, another tri-meet at Hiram against Hiram and Washington & Jefferson on January 24.
