James Madison Closes Out Regular Season With Win Over Richmond

James Madison vs Richmond (Women)

• January 27, 2024
• Richmond, Va.
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

Courtesy: JMU Sports

RICHMOND, Va. – In its final dual meet of the season, James Madison swimming & diving took down Richmond, 163-137, on Saturday at Robins Center Natatorium.

The Dukes won nine total events, with Alexa Holloway and Jess Pryne each winning a pair of individual events. The Dukes swept on the 3-meter board and in the 200 Fly.

Diving

• Holloway swept both boards and was followed by Kate Vitolo on each board.
• The Dukes swept the 3-meter board by NCAA Zone qualifying scores from Holloway (286.65) and Vitolo (280.65, while Natalie Jones finished third with a score of 252.30.
• On the 1-meter board, Holloway and Vitolo each scored NCAA Zone qualifying scores again with scores of 281.25 and 279.30, respectively.

Individual Swimming

• Pryne earned a pair of wins in the 200 Free (1:53.34) and the 400 IM (4:26.40). She was joined in placing in the 200 Free by Riley Nugent, who placed third with a time of 1:57.55.
• Angela Ritchie won the 200 Fly with a time of 2:08.72, with Riley Bridgman and Rachel McCoy finishing behind her in order to give JMU a sweep of the event. Bridgman swam a time of 2:09.87 while McCoy swam a time of 2:11.20.
• In the 200 Breast, Suzanne Earnshaw swam a time of 2:24.74 to win the event. She also took third in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:07.02. Grace Bousum also placed in the 100 Breast, as she finished second with a time of 1:06.50.
• Racing in the 100 Fly, Cameron Gring recorded a time of 57.99 to take first. Finishing behind her in third was McCoy with a time of 58.59.
• Madison Cottrell won the 100 Back (56.39) and finished second in the 200 Back (2:04.59).
• Katelyn Fitzgerald finished second in the 500 Free (5:09.27) and in the 1000 Free (10:32.74).
• Racing in the 50 Free and the 100 Free, Jamie Cornwell respectively placed second with a time of 23.90 and third with a time of 53.05.

Relays

• The Dukes won the 400 Medley Relay behind a time of 3:48.59 from the team of Gring, Bridgman, Cottrell and Cornwell.
• JMU put two teams in the top three of the 200 Free Relay. Cornwell, Cottrell, Sydni Diehl and Alex Volk swam a time of 1:34.61 to take second place. Taking third with a time of 1:37.58 was the team of Bousum, Gring, Emily Drakopoulos and Emily Wisniewski.

Quoting Head Coach Dane Pedersen
“Thank you to Richmond for hosting us and congratulations to their seniors celebrating senior day. We’re excited to focus on our conference championships coming up in two and a half weeks.”

Up Next
The Dukes will compete in their first ever Sun Belt Conference Championships the next time they’ll be in the pool. The championships will take place in Orlando, Fla. from Feb. 14-17 with each day’s prelims beginning at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.

Courtesy: Richmond Athletics

Richmond, Va. – The University of Richmond swimming and diving program celebrated its seven seniors with a home dual meet against JMU Saturday afternoon, with the Dukes passing the Spiders 163-137 at the Robins Center Natatorium.

The Richmond swimmers dominated the competition with eight 1^st place finishes and a 133-129 score.

Megan Carson ended the day with two of those victories for herself. She found success in the 1000 free at 10:22.28 and the 500 free at 5:03.87

Caroline Weldon also took two 1^st place finishes on the afternoon. She had victorious performances in the 100 back (56.50) and the 200 back (2:01.91). Weldon held a strong race in the 100 fly, taking 2^nd place at 58.38.

Melissa Nwakalor has continued her impressive freshman campaign with three 1^st place finishes on the day. In the 50 free, Nwakalor blew past her competitors with a mark of 23.29. The 100 free was no different for this Spider as Nwakalor took her second 1^st place finish at 52.44. Following her individual victories, she jumped back into action with the 200 medley relay, where she was joined by Julia Krichev, Lucy Yeomans and Caitlyn Hughes. The group came together in a thrilling race to take the 1^st place finish at 1:34.42. Nwakalor’s 23.02 split accounted for the fastest 50 free time for all swimmers Saturday.

Presley Baber won the 100 breast event with a strong mark of 1:06.25.

Katie Chignell finished her day with a pair of 2^nd place finishes in the 400 IM (4:28.62) and the 200 free (1:53.48).

Lola Dragosavac led the Richmond diving group with a 3rd place finish in the 1m competition with a score of 265.50.

Up next, the Spiders will attend the Cavalier Invite hosted by UVA from February 9-11.