PITTSBURGH, Pa.- The Franciscan University Lady Barons swim team had to break in some new recruits who rose to the challenge in a tri-meet against Chatham University and Penn St.-Altoona.

The meet began not in the pool, but on the boards with the 3-meter dive. Senior Kellie Rankin took third place. Rankin placed third in 1-meter dive as well. Despite placing third in both events, head coach Cassandra Pyle said that Rankin was on par with respective scores of 179.70 and 170.48.

New to the team were juniors Joanna Dawyot and Jasmine Florentino. Both girls competed in 1-meter diving and Florentino competed in the 100-yard butterfly. Florentino took fourth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 94.73 and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly after touching the wall at 1:39.43.

"With Elizabeth McNulty in Austria, we needed someone to fill in for the butterfly," said Pyle. "Jasmine filled in and did very well for us."

Freshman Katherine Kennedy secured her best time of the season in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:35.06.

Freshman Julia Despres also performed very well in her leg in the medley relay with a time of 30.48.

"We wanted to break 30 seconds and Julia was just about there," said Pyle.

Up next for the Lady Barons is a trip to the AMCC Conference Championship.

"This was our last meet of the regular season," said Pyle. "We now have 10 days until championships, which we are all looking forward to."

The AMCC championship will be begin on Wednesday February 10, hosted by Grove City College.