STEUBENVILLE - The Franciscan swimming and diving team lost to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Alfred State Wednesday night, 171-111, in their second home meet of the season.
After a cancellation of the first spring semester meet due to inclement weather, the Lady Barons had a chance to put their winter training to the test against Alfred State. In the first event of the evening, the 200 medley relay, Franciscan swam to first and second, with the 'A' relay team, composed of Colleen Farabaugh, Alicia Winters, Emily Reuwer, Katie Cunningham, had a gap of 10 seconds over second place.
Farabaugh would continue to her strong swims into the 1000-yard freestyle where she set a school record, beating the record she previously set by three seconds. The new record sits at 11:40.50. Sophomore Abigail Schaefer grabbed Franciscan three more points in the 200-yard freestyle snagging third (2:21.39), and freshman Evelyn Nick took fifth (2:24.59).
Senior Bernadette DiMaria (1:28. 51) and junior Marguerite Stonier (1:45.84) swam next in the 100-yard backstroke taking fourth and fifth respectively. Cunningham jumped into the pool next for the 100-yard breaststroke where she stomped past all comers to take first place in a time of 1:17.73; teammate Kelsey Kuzniewski rounded out fifth place in a time of 1:37.68.
Reuwer swam next for the Lady Barons in what is arguably the toughest event of the night, the 200 yard butterfly. With more than 20 seconds advantage over second place Reuwer swam a season best of 2:26.72. Following upon the heals of the butterfly, the lanes filled for the 50 yard freestyle in which junior Maris Bey took a close second in a time of 28.86, just being out-touched by the Pioneer's Lizzy Drake (28.46). Freshman Olga Pierce rounded out fifth place in a time of 30.59.
Taking a break from the swimming, diver Sarah Tohill took to the boards to take second place in the first round of 1-meter diving with 137.15 points. Following the diving the sprinters took to the blocks once more for the 100 freestyle where Schaefer swam to second place in a time of 1:02.83, Nick swimming to fourth place with a time of 1:03.87, and Bey rounding out fifth in 1:06.98.
Farabaugh would swim next for Franciscan in the 200 yard backstroke where a neck and neck race left the Baron just out of steam taking second place in 2:23.92 to the Pioneers' Jessie Larue (2:21.70). Freshman Alicia Winters dove into the 200 yard breaststroke sweeping away the field with a final time of 2:47.52.
With only five events left, Cunningham dove into a fight for second in the 500 that lasted the whole race; just being out-touched at the wall Cunningham took third in a time of 6:10.11, narrowly missing second place by .5 seconds. Then, not satisfied with just the 200 fly, Reuwer dove in to the pool once again for the 100 yard butterfly where, just as in the 200, she swept to a definitive first place in a time of 1.01.03 dropping just over a second from her seed time. This puts Reuwer just .42 seconds away from the school record of 1.00.61. Bey rounded out fifth place with a personal best of 1:17.96 in a three person dash for the wall for third.
In the final three events of the evening Tohill returned to the boards for a hard-fought second place (159.33) to the Pioneers' Sarah Stevens (202.55). Next, rather than the sprinters returning to the blocks, the multi-stroke athletes showed their skill in the 200 yard individual medley. Swimming for Franciscan Winters finished in second place with a time of 2:33.63. Then with only moments to recover, Winters joined the relay team of Reuwer, Cunningham, and Farabaugh to bring the Lady Barons to first place in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:49.46. Joining these four, were teammates Bey, Nick, Abigail Robinson, and Schaefer whose relay took third in a time of 1:59.09.
The Lady Barons will continue training and travel to Hiram on Saturday to compete against Hiram College and Washington & Jefferson University.
