ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Paced
by Kate Conard's title in the 500-yd freestyle, the Marist women's swimming and
diving team stands in second place after the first day of competition at the 2012
ECAC Swimming & Diving Championships.
Conard, a junior from East Setauket, N.Y., earned the first swimming ECAC
individual title for a female swimmer at Marist since the 2007 Championships.
The 400-yd Medley Relay team also earned a victory on Friday evening.
Coming off a second place finish in the 500-yd freestyle to
teammate Michelle Fountain (Sayville, N.Y.) in dramatic fashion at last weekend's
MAAC Championship, Conard came out on Friday and crushed the field at the ECAC
Championship Final with a 3.13 second victory of 4:53.04.
Fountain put forth another strong effort in 500-yd action as
she won the Consolation Final with a time of 4:59.47. Sophomore Kim Kaller (New
Providence, N.J.) was the third Red Fox in distance final action on the night.
She swam to a sixth place finish in the Consolation Final at 5:08.38.
The 2012 MAAC Champion 400-yd Medley Relay team of Conard,
Greta Leberfinger, Emily Miles and Fountain earned another title as they finished
in first place with a time of 3:49.56. The Red Foxes took the lead by the
150-yd mark of the race and never looked back, as they swam to a 0.45 second
victory.
One day after qualifying for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials,
Leberfinger was back in the pool and swimming to strong individual results. In
Event 6, the 200-yd IM, the freshman swam to a second place finish of 2:06.54.
She was overtaken in the final 50 yards by Harvard's Clare Foster for the win.
In Consolation Final action of the 200-yd IM, Marist was
well represented as senior Emily Gardner (Fairport, N.Y.) and sophomore Emily
Miles (Long Valley, N.J.) finished in third and fourth, respectively. Gardner
clocked in at 2:08.89, while Miles was right behind at 2:09.75.
In 1-meter diving action, freshman Kimberly Tobias (San
Jose, Calif.) completed her six-dive Championship Final with a 237.10 point
total that earned her third place. She fell just 5.50 points short of Harvard's
Cassandra Corneau's event-winning total.
In the final individual swimming event of the night, sophomore
Maddie Arciello (Missoula, Mont.) swam to a third place finish of 23.93 in the 50-yd
freestyle.
After the first day of the championship, Harvard leads with
202 points. Marist sits in second place by 25 points at 177. Navy trails Marist
by two points at 175.
The 2012 ECAC Championship will continue on Saturday morning
at 10 a.m., with the qualifying heats of events 13-25. The finals for the same
events will be held Saturday evening, with the first race scheduled to begin at
6 p.m.
Women - Top 10 Team
Rankings - Through Event 11
1. Harvard - 202. 2.
Marist - 177. 3. Navy - 175. 4. Towson - 119. 5. Army - 100. 6. C.W. Post - 97.5. 7. Rider - 93. 8. Bucknell - 77.5. 9. Columbia - 40. 10. University of New England - 30.
