POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist women's swimming and diving team (7-1, 6-0 MAAC) earned a 166-123 victory over Southern Connecticut State on Saturday afternoon in a home meet at the McCann Natatorium. Following six weeks off from competition after a dominate performance at the H20unds Invitational in December, the Red Foxes were back to their winning ways with 13 event wins, including multiple victories by senior Kate Conard (East Setauket, N.Y.), sophomore Kimberly Tobias (San Jose, Calif.) and freshman Bethany Powhida (Delmar, N.Y.)
Conard led the list of victors with four total wins, three of which came in individual events. Her afternoon began with a 6.36-second victory in the 200-yd freestyle at 1:55.33. Following a 10.52-second win in the 200-yd butterfly at 2:10.73, the senior rounded out her day with a come-from-behind victory over SCSU's Courtney Silva in the 200-yd breaststroke with a 39.60 closing 50 for the eventual 0.52-second victory at 2:37.29.
Powhida took the baton from Conard in the distance events as the freshman swam to a sweep of the 1650-yd and 500-yd races. In the 1650, she clocked in at 17:59.18 for the 13.77-second victory and at 5:13.43 in the 500-yd event.
Tobias was the third multi-event winner as she swept both diving boards. In the 1-meter, she won with a dominate final score of 273.82. In a closer 3-meter competition, she held off a pair of SCSU Owls with a 247.72-point effort.
A quartet of Red Foxes earned single victories. Freshman Bridget Curley (Endwell, N.Y.) led off the winning with a win in the 50-yd freestyle at 25.22. Junior Emily Miles (Long Valley, N.J.) capped off the Marist sweep of the sprint freestyle races with a 56.48 result in the 100-yd event. Sophomore Shannon Toal (Rye Brook, N.Y.) and junior Bonnie Orr (Fresno, Calif.) rounded out the winners as Toal won the 200-yd backstroke at 2:14.18 and Orr, the 100-yd butterfly at 1:00.80.
The Red Foxes will be back in action next Saturday with a road meet at Boston College. The events of January 19 are slated to begin at 1 p.m.
