Feb. 22, 2007

Results

BUFFALO, NY - The La Salle men's and women's swimming and diving team posted a strong showing on the first two days of competition at the Atlantic 10 Championship hosted by St. Bonaventure. 

On Wednesday evening, diver Katie Gifford set an Atlantic 10 Championship record in the 1-meter event, posting  a final score of 493.95 to earn the gold medal. 

In the same session, freshman Shannon Duval set a new school record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.50.  Duval notched the mark on the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay in which the Explorers finished in seventh place with a time of 7:41.96.  Rounding out the foursome were Carleen Caldwell, Dana Reis and Jamie Polek.

Duval also earned a piece of the school record in the 200-yard medley relay, swimming the second leg behind Mallory Kessler and swimming ahead of Jessica Nissen and Caldwell.  The team finished eighth in the event and posted a time of 1:49.36.

Also on Day 1, the men's 800-yard freestyle relay team claimed a fifth place finish with a time of 6:49.91.  The time was comprised of John Welsh, Matt Ainsworth, Sean Connors-McBride and Owen Black.

On Thursday, the Explorers started setting school records again.  Duval broke the record in the 200-yard individual medley in the trilas with a time of 2:07.11 and broke it again in the evening session finishing in third place overall with a time of 2:05.28.

Caldwell marked a record of her own in the 50-yard freestyle, duplicating Duval's effort by breaking the record in the preliminaries with a time of 24:36 and setting it again in the finals with a fifth place finish in a time of 24.34.

Diver Karo Isajan earned the silver in the 1-meter diving event, posting a final score of 623.90, just eight points shy of the first place finish.

Rounding out the Day 2 performances, Polek took sixth place (5:08.81) in the 500-yard freestyle, while Connors-McBride took fourth place on the men's side with a time of 4:36.57.

Mike Ellerson claimed eighth place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.12 and John Welsh also earned eighth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.40.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Rachel Sheridan, Shannon Halleran, Jacklyn Kubala and Nissen placed 10th overall with a time of 1:43.39, while the men's team of Welsh, Kevin Whelan, Chris Cefalo, and Black claimed the bronze with a time of 1:23.99.

The Explorers return to action for Day 3 of the Championship starting at 10:30 on Friday morning.  Check the Atlantic 10 webiste at www.atlantic10.org for live stats of all the events.