BETHLEHEM, Pa.
- The Marist women's swimming and diving team defeated Lehigh in its first meet
of the new year by a score of 171-129. Kate Conard (East Setauket, N.Y.) led a
quartet of Red Foxes made up of Michelle Fountain (Sayville, N.Y.), Greta
Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.) and Kimberly Tobias (San Jose, Calif.), who all won
multiple events on Saturday afternoon at Lehigh's Jacobs Pool.
Conard swam to dominate first place finishes in both of
the distance freestyle races with a time of 5:06.95 in the 500-yd and 10:21.24 in the
1000-yd. Her third win came in the 200-yd IM, where she finished with a time of
2:11.59.
Fountain had a strong afternoon of swimming for the Red
Foxes with wins in the 100- and 200-yd freestyle events and a second place
finish in the 50-yd race. The senior won the 100-yd race with a time of 53.87 and
the 200-yd at 1:55.42. She finished runner-up to teammate Maddie Arciello
(Missoula, Mont.) in the 50-yd event with a time of 25.51, slightly behind
Arciello's 24.92 mark.
Leberfinger duplicated Fountain's performance with two
wins and a second-place finish. The freshman earned victories in both
breaststroke events, the 100-yd at 1:07.19 and the 200-yd at 2:25.39. In the
200-yd IM, Leberfinger fell short in her attempt to overcome Conard as she
finished with a time of 2:13.32.
The fourth multi-event winner was Tobias, who swept the
diving events. In the 1-meter board, she held off two Marist teammates,
Chelaine Eliazar (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Lauren Weiner (Feeding Hills, Mass.).
The trio finished ahead of three Lehigh divers with scores of 231.29, 219.74
and 200.62, respectively. In the 3-meter board, Tobias posted a 44.48 point
victory with a final total of 255.90.
The 200-yd medley relay team of Erica Vitale
(Sterling, Conn.), Leberfinger, Emily Miles (Long Valley, N.J.) and Arciello
and the 400-yd freestyle relay team of Arciello, Bonnie Orr (Fresno, Calif.),
Fountain and Conard each secured victories in their respective events.
With the win, Marist improves its record to 7-1 on the season.
The Red Foxes will back in the pool in New Haven, Conn, next
Saturday, Jan. 14 when they take on Southern Connecticut State at 1 p.m.
