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Women's Swimming
Women fend off competitors for sixth place on final day
Feb. 21, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure women's swimming and diving team mirrored last year's Atlantic 10 Championship performance by finishing in sixth place in the last day of competition at the Flickinger Center on Saturday. In the long-distance 1650-yard freestyle, senior Kate Cherry swam a 17:19.35 for a sixth-place finish in her final A-10 Championship. Junior Allison Smith finished in ninth (17:28.31) and sophomore Natalya Ghostlaw claimed 11th (17:33.73). Two Bonaventure varsity records were shattered by sophomore Katie Valentine and freshman Jamie Noonan in the 200-yard backstroke preliminaries. Valentine touched the wall in 2:02.14 followed by Noonan with 2:03.55. Both finishes overtook the 1994 record of 2:04.11. In the championship round, Valentine and Noonan raced next to each other to finish in fifth (2:02.01) and eighth (2:05.65), respectively. Valentine's fifth-place finish broke the 1994 200 backstroke record by over two seconds and was the second Bonaventure varsity record she had broken in the A-10s. Freshman Danielle Butler and junior Taylor Merena were side by side for the 200-yard butterfly championship finals. Butler secured fourth with a 2:05.82 followed by Merena in sixth with 2:06.29. Senior Allison Whalen swam her final butterfly in the consolation finals and claimed 11th overall in 2:05.44.
In the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Smith, Noonan and junior Lauren Ely combined their efforts to swim a 3:30.56 for sixth place. At the conclusion of the championship, the University of Richmond dominated the women's scoreboard with 742 points followed by Fordham with 549.5. This is the eighth consecutive A-10 Championship Richmond has won. The Bonnies ended the A-10s with a score of 388.5. Xavier was unable to catch up with only 340 points and ended the day in seventh (284). |
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