The three-time Mid-American Conference champion Akron women’s swimming and diving dove into the preseason with its annual Blue and Gold Intrasquad meet on Friday, Sept. 23.
“I thought we did a great job in the first meet of the year. We looked very good for where we are at early on in the year,” said head coach Brian Peresie. “We still have things that wee need to work on going forward into the season that we will begin to improve upon on Monday, but I am happy where we are at”
After 12 events, the Gold team came out on top over the Blue squad by a score of 123-94 to take the intrasquad crown.
In the first event, the 200 medley relay, the Gold squad relay team made up of senior Luka Szynal (Lublin, Poland), juniors Paloma Marrero Munoz (Merida, Spain), and Susan Franz (Canton, Ohio) and sophomore Ragen Engel (Springfield, Ohio) touched in first place.
Sophomore Sadie Fazekas (Windsor, Ontario) took first place in the 500 freestyle for the Blue team, while Franz and Engel finished second-third to pick up points for the Gold team.
Team Gold swept the top three finishes in the 200 IM with Marrero Munoz coming in first, freshman Jackie Pash placing second, and junior Allison Teskerounding it out for third.
Freshman Kari Djonne (Sandy Hook, Conn.) scored the top-score in the three-meter diving event for the Blue squad followed by senior Paige Kelkenberg(Lockport, N.Y.) for the Gold team and freshman Katelyn Applin (Dansville, N.Y.) for the Blue.
The gold team won four of the last five events on the afternoon including the 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 400 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 200 freestyle relay.
The Blue team disrupted the Gold teams rhythm by taking first place in the one-meter dive. Djonne and Applin placed first and second for team Blue while Kelkenberg took third place for the Blue team.
The Zips travel to Bowling Green, Ohio to take part in the annual Tom Stubbs Relays on Sept. 30. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m.
Event 1 – 200 Medley Relay –Szynal, Marrero, Franz, Engel (Gold)
Event 2 – 200 Freestyle – Savariau (Blue)
Event 3 – 50 Freestyle – Fazekas (Blue)
Event 4 – 200 IM – Marrero (Blue)
Event 5 – 3-Meter Diving – Djonne (Blue)
Event 6 – 100 Butterfly – Fazekas (Blue)
Event 7 – 100 Freestyle – Engel (Gold)
Event 8 – 100 Backstroke – Szynal (Gold)
Event 9 – 400 Freestyle – Pash (Gold)
Event 10 – 100 Breaststroke – Marrero (Gold)
Event 11 – 1-Meter Diving – Djonne (Blue)
Event 12 – 200 Freestyle Relay – Engel, Franz, Shaffer, Marrero (Gold)