Swimming and Diving Earns Close Win at North Florida
1/14/2012 10:13:00 PM | Swimming and Diving
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Swimming and Diving team won seven of the 13 events to defeat North Florida 125-118 at the UNF Aquatics Center Saturday. Five new top times for the season were set in the meet for the Eagles, including three in the 200 Breaststroke.
Trailing 114-112 going into the final event, the Georgia Southern (6-2) 200 Free Relay team of Katie Crider (Bloomington, Ind.), Kristen Bates (Peachtree City, Ga.), Devan White (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Emily Fell (Brunswick, Ga.) grabbed the team's sixth victory with a first-place finish. The team bested the Ospreys' relay team by a narrow margin, swimming to a time of 1:41.13.
"We knew UNF would be tough and they were," said Head Coach Nate Kellogg. "It was back and fourth the whole meet. I'm very proud how our team came together and battled at the end."
In the 200 Breast, Megan Ostrom (St. Louis Park, Minn.), Courtney Harrison (Greenville, S.C.) and Rikki Babuka (Richmond, Ky.) all set new top times and finished second, third and sixth in the event, respectively. Ostrom cut over two seconds off of her previous best with a time of 2:26.11. Harrison grabbed three points for the Eagles after finishing with a time of 2:26.42, and Babuka swam to a time of 2:32.51.
On the diving board Sara Meisenhelder (Carmel, Ind.) posted season-best marks in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. She finished second in the 1-meter dive with a score of 233.85 and third in the 3-meter dive with a mark of 235.57.
The meet opened much like it ended with a relay victory for GSU. The 200 Medley Relay squad of JoAnn Filipov (Watkinsville, Ga.), Ostrom, Megan Heller (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Elaina Lanson (Wadsworth, Ohio) finished first with their time of 1:51.00. Lanson also won the 50 Free with a time of 24.59 and the 100 Free with a mark of 53.50.
Also picking up event wins were Amber Juncker (Bogart, Ga.) and Sarah Schwartz (Greenwood, S.C.). Juncker finished first in both the 500 Free and 1000 Free with times of 5:12.31 and 10:42.50, respectively. Schwartz came in first in the 200 Back with a time of 2:09.34.
The Swimming and Diving squad returns home for their final home meet this season. The Eagles will host Florida Gulf Coast at the RAC Saturday at 12 p.m.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.
