READING, PA - In a meet that saw the score tied three times and would come down to the final relay event of the afternoon the host Lions managed to pull out a huge 137.5-124.5 victory over the visiting Cougars of Misericordia University Saturday afternoon at the Albright Natatorium.
The victory secures the Lady Lions perfect conference record of 7-0, while their overall record improves to 9-2 on the year. For the Cougars the tough loss drops them to 8-4 overall, 5-1 in the conference.
At Left: Senior swimmer Adrienne Peoples
From the start the two teams knew that the meet was going to be close. However no one really knew that it would come down to the 400 yard freestyle relay to determine who would win the final conference meet of the year. Not only did Albright win the final event, but they did it in dominant fashion defeating their closest opponent by nearly 12 seconds.
To start the afternoon, Misericordia pulled out their first victory in the 400 yard medley relay. The Red and White led by senior Adrienne Peoples (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) came right back in the first individual event of the afternoon the 1,000 yard freestyle. Peoples alongside Sarah Noonan (Frederick, MD/Urbana) and Kelly Williams (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) earned the top three finishes respectively.
Albright added another notch to the win column in the 200 yard freestyle with Allison Fies (Reading, PA/Muhlenberg) pulling in the top time of 1:59.75, which was the third best finish ever in that event for the sophomore.
Misericordia took their second first place finish of the afternoon as Alaina Trent managed to take the 100 yard backstroke, defeating Albright's
Aimee Snyder (Reading, PA/Muhlenberg) by .45 seconds. The Cougars added some additional momentum with another first place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke.
Jess Williams (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) gave her team a much needed victory in the 200 yard butterfly. Along with Tara McAdam's (Phoenixville, PA/Great Valley) second place finish in the event the two swimmers gave their team a much needed 14 points.
In what turned out to be the closest event of the afternoon Snyder and Misericordia's Alicia Byrk finished tied for first place in the very quick 50 yard freestyle. The two swimmers each recorded final times of 25.91 giving their team's 6.5 points each.
Before their final relay event of the afternoon both teams would each earn an three more individual victories before facing off in the crucial relay.
Albright Women's Swimming will now prepare for the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship meet. The three day meet which will be held in Wilkes-Barre, PA is scheduled to begin on Friday, February 13th.
