CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Marist women's swimming and diving team (8-1, 6-0 MAAC) earned a 172-126 victory over Boston College on the road on Saturday afternoon. The Red Foxes were led by multiple victories by seniors Kate Conard (East Setauket, N.Y.) and Erica Vitale (Sterling, Conn.), junior Maddie Arciello (Missoula, Mont.), sophomore Kimberly Tobias (San Jose, Calif.) and freshman Bethany Powhida (Delmar, N.Y.).
Conard was Marist's leading individual swimmer in the non-conference dual meet as she won three events and was a part of a fourth first place finish with the 400-yd freestyle relay. Back in her accustomed distance freestyle events, Conard swept both the 500- and 1000-yd races with times of 5:09.37 and 10:29.12. Her third win came in the 200-yd IM, which she won with a time of 2:11.16. Conard's final first place finish came courtesy of a season-best 100-yd leg of 53.3-seconds in the 400-yd freestyle relay.
Vitale followed up her classmate with two wins and a second place finish. Her first individual win came in the 200-yd butterfly with a 3.80-second win over BC's Kathleen Murray at 2:09.01. In the 100-yd butterfly, she won with a time of 59.69. Vitale finished runner-up to Conard in the 200-yd IM with a result of 2:14.07
Arciello took first place in the 50-yd freestyle as she and freshman Bridget Curley (Endwell, N.Y.) went 1-2 with times of 24.89 and 25.23, respectively. The junior capped her winning with a close battle in the 100-yd freestyle. Arciello held off BC's Emily Downs 54.64 to 55.14.
Powhida swept the backstroke events as she held off teammate Sarah Wagner (Rockaway, N.J.) in the 100-yd backstroke by a 0.29-second margin at 1:01.45 and again in the 200-yd backstroke. Her time in the 200-yd race was a 2:08.85.
In diving action, Tobias continued her dominate sophomore campaign with a sweep of the 1- and 3-meter boards. The sophomore dove to a 39.97-point victory in the 1-meter with a final score of 256.87. In the 3-meter event, Tobias held off Dana Hadra by a 5.02-point margin at 259.87 to 254.85.
Junior Bonnie Orr (Fresno, Calif.) earned the victory in the 200-yd freestyle with a 2.14-second win at 1:57.61 to round out the winning for Marist on the afternoon.
The Red Foxes will be back on the road next Saturday, January 26 with an away meet at Seton Hall. The first event is scheduled to get started at 12 p.m.
