Feb. 20, 2004

Results

Baltimore, MD -- The Marist College women's swimming and diving team continued its quest for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Title on Friday, with a record setting effort. Marist leads after two days of the three day events, with 545 points, 66 ahead of Rider University, the closest contender.

Marist collected a pair of relay wins, and have now won all four of the relay's contested over the first two days of competition. In the first race of the Friday finals, Marist set a school, MAAC and pool record as Jen Meyer, Lauren Malski, Jen Gelsomino and Kim Koehler, touched first in a time of 1:48.56 in the 200-yard medley relay. The Red Foxes closed the night with another school and conference record in the 800-yard freestyle relay, winning in a time of 7:46.73. Karen Fleckenstein, Kristin Schnitzer, Sarah McKinney and Emily Heslin completed the Red Foxes evening with the 11 second victory over Rider.

Malski, a freshman, set the first records of the day during the prelims of the 100 breaststroke. In the morning session she touched in a time of 1:04.33, a new school and MAAC record, and just .4 seconds shy of qualifing for the NCAA Championships. She would go onto win the event during finals, with a time of 1:04.53, 1.1 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

Heslin started the Red Foxes evening off on the right foot for the second straight night as she won the 1,000-yard freestyle. The junior, who won her second event of the championship, touched in a time of 10:28.08, breaking the school mark of 10:29.72, set by Kenna Moran in 1997.

Gelsomino, also a junior, won her second event of the competition as well, as she touched first in the 400-yard IM, with a time of 4:33.47. That effort was good for a school record as well, snapping the mark of 4:34.10 she set a season ago. Schnitzer also broke a record of her own, as she topped the field in the 200-yard freestyle. A senior, Schnitzer posted a time of 1:55.37, nearly a full second under her prior record, set in 2002.

The Red Foxes will continue competition on Saturday, February 20th at the pool on the campus of Loyola College. Marist is looking for its sixth title in its nine years as a member of the MAAC, and its first since 2002.