Hiram, OH – The Franciscan swimming and diving team swam to victory over Hiram College on Saturday, 175.5-79.5.
The meet began with women's 1 meter diving in which senior
Sarah Tohill took first with 139.07 points; the 400-meter medley relay took to the blocks next with the Lady Baron squad of
Colleen Farabaugh,
Alicia Winters,
Emily Reuwer, and
Kathryn Cunningham leading the team to their second first place and school record of 5:08.42. Records would be the name of the game, as it were, at Hiram as the Lady Barons set a total of five school records, the second of which came immediately after the medley in the 800-meter freestyle. Farabaugh, minutes after swimming the leadoff leg of the medley, swam to first place in 10:42.52.
Following upon the success of their teammates, the 200-meter freestyle saw sophomore Abby Schaefer take second in 2:43.36, freshman
Abigail Robinson take third in 2:57.75, and sophomore
Andrea Beganskas round out fourth in 3:27.85. The subsequent event of the 50-meter backstroke saw the next record from Reuwer in a first-place swim of 34.16; Reuwer was joined by seniors
Meaghan McCoy who took third in 46.53, and
Bernadette DiMaria in fourth with a time of 47.18. Then, with one record already for the day, Farabaugh took first in the 50-meter breaststroke in 39.44 taking her second record. Farabaugh narrowly outpaced Winters, who came in second with a time of 40.95, also faster than the prior school record, and coming in third was Robinson in a time of 49.64.
Reuwer led the Lady Barons to their next first place in the 100-meter butterfly in 1:12.60; joining her was freshman
Evelyn Nick in third place (1:34.92), and Beganskas in fourth (1:51.99). Junior
Maris Bey led the Baron sprinters to second place in 32.39, Nick close behind in 33.88 for third, and, tying for fourth, McCoy in 40.18.
Tohill took to the boards for her first round of 3-meter diving of the season taking a resounding first with 126.66 points. The Lady Baron swimmers, fresh from the break, dove back into the pool for the 100-meter freestyle led by Reuwer who took first in 1:07.45 followed by Schaefer in 1:11.47 in second place and Bey in third in a time of 1:16.53. Then, with mere moments to rest, Schaefer took aim at the 100-meter backstroke where, despite being immediately after the 100 freestyle, she swam to first place in 1:27.69. The 100 back also saw strong performances from DiMaria in fourth (1:40.94) and junior
Marguerite Stonier in fifth (1:53.36).
After the backstroke came the 100 breaststroke where Cunningham and Winters battled it out for second place behind Hiram's Jenna Nelson. Cunningham just had the better of Winters finishing in second in a time of 1:27.93 over Winters' third place swim of 1:28.83. Robinson joined her teammates rounding out the event in fourth in 1:48.41.
The following event, the 400-meter freestyle, saw a fantastic race between the Barons' Farabaugh and Hiram's Carlee Lisser and, in a combined heat of men and women, Hiram's Darrien Street. Farabaugh, haning with Lisser the whole race and just outpacing Street, had an exhilarating final three lengths where coming off the final turn all three were just about even butin the final few meters Lisser snagged first (5:02.13) just ahead of Farabaugh who came in second in a time of 5:02.72 also ahead of Street in 5:03.58. Joining Farabaugh was teammate Stonier swimming her second 400 of the season pacing a beautiful race to come in third with a time of 7:29.36, a best time.
The next event saw Nick return to the pool to race the 50-meter fly and set a school record of 37.64 while also snagging a very close first place over fellow Baron Bey who finished in second with a time of 37.87. Rounding out the event was Beganskas in fourth in a time of 45.14.
After a short break the final two events got underway led by the women's 100-meter IM where another close race for first saw first, second and third all finish in times less than 2 seconds apart. Winters, missed first place by a second and a half to snag second in a time of 1:20.76 and right behind her was Cunningham who finished in third in a tie of 1:20.94. The final event of the meet saw the Barons take first in the 200-meter freestyle relay in 2:12.67, 12 seconds up on Hiram.
The Lady Barons return to training this week as they continue to taper for the AMCC Championships in Erie, PA at Penn St.-Behrend University, Feb. 13-16.
