Record Breaking Effort Not Enough for Swimming & Diving

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving fought hard in its final home meet, but was unable to defeat Florida Gulf Coast on Senior Day. The Eagles were not able to pull out the victory, falling 180-115.

“We faced a very good Florida Gulf team. I thought we performed well, and our divers were on fire today.” said Head Coach Nate Kellogg. “Overall, it was a very solid meet for us, and I think we’re in a very solid place as far as our training goes. Our goal is to take away positives from this weekend, and carry them forward to next weekend.”

The Eagles have plenty of positives to build on after Saturday’s meet. Including the record-breaking performance of sophomore Sara Meisenhelder (Carmel, In.). In two first-place finishes, Meisenhelder set new school records in both the one and three meter diving events. Her score of 263.25 in the 1-Meter Dive broke the 14-year record of 257.48, set by Mindy Hall. Meisenhelder’s 3-Meter Dive score of 265.35 broke the nine-year record of 256.65, set by Leslie Williams.

Saturday’s meet began with the 200 Free, where Devan White (Kennesaw, Ga.) pulled out a second place finish (1:56.13). Sarah Schwartz (Greenwood, S.C.) took first place in the 200 Back (2:07.97), and later finished second in the 100 Back (1:01.02).

The Eagles’ only other first-place finish came in the 400 IM, which GSU swept. Amber Juncker (Bogart, Ga.) took first (4:39.78), followed by Lindsay Mullican (Lancaster, Pa.) in second (4:44.72) and Courtney Harrison (Greenville, S.C.) in third. Juncker and Harrison also placed third in the 500 Free (5:11.04) second in the 200 Breast (2:26.02), respectively.

Other top-three finishes included freshman Elaina Lanson (Wadsworth, Ohio), who took second in the 50 Free (23.57), and Abigail Lavallin (Bridgwater, Somerset), who finished third in the 100 Butterfly (59.43). Also Kristen Bates (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Megan Ostrom (St. Louis Park, Minn.) took second (1:06.97) and third (1:07.02) respectively, in the 100 Breast.

Although the Eagles were unable to come away with the win on Senior Day, Coach Kellogg feels that the Seniors have been a valuable asset to the team. “We’re very proud of everything that our seniors have done for our team and our program. They’ve been  key to our success this year. I’m very proud of how they’ve done this year and bringing the team together.”

The Eagles are on the road for the remainder of the 2011-2012 season. GSU will now travel to Davidson for a multi-team meet next weekend, before heading to Athens, Ga. for the conference meet.

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Category: Swimming & Diving

Published on Saturday, 21 January 2012 19:08