(Posted February 10, 2006)

WILKES-BARRE, PA ? With one day of competition complete at the 2006 MAC Swimming Championships, the Juniata College women?s swimming team finds itself in strong position as the Eagles are in third place in the 11 team field. Juniata capped day one with 131 points, just 27 points behind second-place Widener. Albright leads the field with 233 points after five events on the first day.

The Eagles did the majority of their damage in the 500 freestyle, and were led by Kasey Brough (Carlisle/Gardners) who broke the school record en route to a third-place finish. She covered the distance in a time of 1:41.48, earning her a third-place finish in the event for the second consecutive season. Juniata had three other swimmers earn points in the event as Kim Dierolf (Boyertown/Boyertown) placed ninth, Rachel Almy (Foxcroft Academy/Charleston, Maine) was 11th and Sam Monty (Plattsburgh/Plattsburgh, N.Y.) was 16th. Both Dierolf and Almy recorded lifetime best swims in the event.

The Eagles got another pair of high finishes in the 50 freestyle. Freshman Kristin Musselman (Central Columbia/Bloomsburg) captured the bronze medal with a third-place finish in her first conference championship event. Senior Amy Hanson (Lancaster Catholic/Elizabethtown) was fifth in the race, marking the best finish of her career in the 50 freestyle at the MAC Championships.

Rounding out the individual scoring on the day for the Eagles was Carli Zoubek (Paul IV/Burke, Va.) who earned valuable points for the Eagles with a third-place effort in the 200 individual medley.

Juniata opened the day with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, posting a time of 1:41.48 which qualified the team for a spot in the ECAC Championships. Musselman and Hanson were joined by Amy Sutherland (Norwich/Norwich, N.Y.) and Collin Thompson (Altoona/Altoona) to post the time, which included lifetime-best splits from Sutherland, Thompson and Hanson.

The quartet of Jenny Bair (Huntingdon/Huntingdon), Thompson, Brough and Dierolf then closed the first day of competition with a sixth-place finish in the 400 medley relay.

The Eagles are looking to best its program-best third-place finish which was attained each of the past two seasons. Though the team is in third place, only seven of Juniata?s 10 qualifying swimmers competed on the first day, leaving the team in good position to make up ground on the second day of competition. The three-day event will continue Saturday morning at the Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.