Strong Individual, Relay Performances Lead Falcons to Second Place Finish at Calvin Winter Invitational

Saturday, December 5

9:00 AM/5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Calvin Winter Invitational Day 3

Strong Individual, Relay Performances Lead Falcons to Second Place Finish at Calvin Winter Invitational

December 06, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Sarah Burston and Meg Richardson lead the team in final night of competition

By: by Hannah Archer, Athletic Communications Intern

Complete invitational results

Bowling Green, Ohio—Sarah Burston and captain Meg Richardson excelled in the final night of competition at the Calvin Winter Invitational. Burston captured first in two events, the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard IM, while Meg Richardson finished with the top honor in the 100-yard freestyle.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Sarah Burston's first-place time of 56.16 set a new pool record at Venema Aquatic Center. One event later, Burston was back in the water for the 200-yard IM to set another pool record. In this event, Burston posted a time of 2:06.93, shattering the previous pool record by six seconds. Burston's time in the 200-yard IM is the fastest time in the Mid-American Conference to-date.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Meg Richardson landed her third first-place finish of the invitational. In the finals portion of the day, Richardson touched in at 51.04, but it was her preliminary race that is notable. During preliminaries, Richardson swam the race in 50.89, a time that is just nine one-hundredths of a second off of setting a new BGSU school record. Her preliminary time in the event is the fastest time in the MAC so far this season.

Both Burston and Richardson were pivotal members of first-place Falcon relay squads. Burston swam butterfly and Richardson freestyle in the top-placing 200-yard medley relay. Assisting Burston and Richardson in the win were freshmen Alexa Harris and Alexis Kain. Together, the four Falcons posted a time of 1:46.78, making it the new pool record at Venema Aquatic Center.

Richardson was also a member of the relay squad taking first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Joining Richardson was Emily Bennet, Vicky Yu and Carrie Enright. This Orange and Brown squad set yet another pool record at Calvin College with a time of 3:30.31; a time that demolished the previous pool record by five seconds.

Freshman Emily Bennet also added to the number of pool records set by Falcon swimmers. Bennet set a pool record with a first-place time of 2:05.42 in the 200-yard backstroke. This time is also Bennet's personal best time in this event so far this season.

But, it was a team effort that led the Falcons to a second place finish at the Calvin Winter Invitational, as nineteen Falcon swimmers finished a race in the top 25.

In the first individual event of finals, Megan Bomicino finished third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:10.62. Not far behind Bomicino was Andrea Brown in 5^th (5:11.77), Emily Waller in sixth (5:11.89) and Jamie Akenberger in 7^th (5:21.82)

In the 200-yard backstroke, Falcon swimmers controlled the top spots, taking first, second and third. Bennet took first while teammates Alexa Harris and Jamie Akenberger took second and third, respectively. Harris posted a time of 2:06.72 and Akenberger a time of 2:06.63. In the same race, Brittany Boone finished in eighth and Kristen Tetuan in tenth. All four of these times are season bests for Harris, Akenberger, Boone and Tetuan.

In addition to Burston's first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, five other Falcons took top spots in the race. Vicky Yu took third with a time of 57.22, a personal best time the 2009-10 season. Also setting new personal best times for this season were Carrie Enright (58.34) who took fourth, Marie Pope (59.98) who took eleventh, Liz Harper (1:00.09 during preliminaries)and Sarah Reinink (1:02.34) who took 23^rd.

In the next event, the 200-yard breaststroke, Amanda Rom took third place, swimming a personal best time of the season with 2:23.47. Finishing right behind her was teammate Alexis Kain in fourth who posted a time of 2:25.73 and Katie Womack in seventh with a time of 2:27.65.

In the fourth event of the night, the Falcons took control of yet another race in the 100-yard freestyle. Falcon swimmers nabbed places in seven of the top 28 spots. Richardson took first in a near record-setting race while teammate Emily Bennet finished right behind her in second with a time of 52.29. Carrie Enright and Sarah Reinink were the next Falcons to touch in, taking seventh and eighth. Rounding out the Falcon squad was Emily Waller in 16^th, Andrea Brown in 17^th and Marie Pope in 23^rd.

In the final race of the night and the final race of the invitational, five more Falcon swimmers put on strong individual performances. In addtional to Sarah Burston's first place finish, Vicky Yu nabbed the third place spot, touching in at 2:10.82. Alexa Harris and Katie Womack were the next Falcons to touch the wall, taking seventh and eleventh places, respectively. Rounding out the top Falcon finishers was Liz Harper who finished in 20th with a time of 2:21.00.

Ranking the Falcons
Total women's swim events: 18
Total first place finals finishes: 15
Total top three finals finishes: 27
Total pool records set by a Falcon: 12
Total BGSU school records set: 1

Final Standings:
1. Grand Valley State University--1118
2. Bowling Green State University--1018
3. Hillsdale College--503
4. Calvin College--456
5. Kalamazoo College--301
6. Saint Mary's College--114
7. Northern Michigan University--89
8. Valparaiso University--79
9. The Alma College--52
10. Olivet College--31
11. Michigan State University--21