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Miami women's swim team splits opening meets

Photo by Angelo Gelfuso

By Jack Brewer, For The Miami Student

The Miami University women's swimming and diving team opened the 2014-2015 season with a 199-94 loss to the University of Purdue Friday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The 'Hawks then rebounded with a 145-102 victory over Xavier University Saturday.

"It was exciting to get out and race," head coach Mark Davis said. "I thought the women did a great job of getting back into racing form. Purdue is a great team, and it was great to see how we stacked up against them."

The RedHawks did not win any individual events, but sophomore Stephanie LeMire placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley with times of 1:04.09, 2:19.86 and 2:07.25, respectively. LeMire, along with sophomore Elise Campbell and juniors Emma Szczupakiewicz and Sara Krueger placed second in the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:43.48.

Campbell, one of five swimmers to earn second-place points for the RedHawks, placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.38.

Freshmen Shay Spelman and Katherine Kuhl were second-place finishers along with Szczupakiewicz. Spelman finished second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:05.96 and Kuhl was second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.93. Szczupakiewicz placed second in the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 2:10.24.

Sophomore divers Jenna Karrow and Taylor LeCount finished fourth and fifth with scores of 254.85 and 246.38 in the one-meter dive. LeCount placed second in the three-meter dive with a score of 261.08 and Karrow placed fourth with a score of 230.40.

The team snagged its first win of the season against Xavier in the Nixon Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon.

"The women did a great job today after being gone all day yesterday at Purdue and then coming back and racing today," head coach Mark Davis said. "We had quite a few kids that swam faster here than at Purdue yesterday. I was really happy with them."

The RedHawks were dominant in the win, taking all 14 events. Junior Michele Rielly and sophomore Stephanie LeMire each won two individual events. LeMire won the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard freestyle with times of 1:05.16 and 52.80, while Rielly won the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke with times of 58.51 and 2:06.05 respectively. Rielly's victories marked her first two as a RedHawk after transferring from the University of Alabama.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, LeMire, sophomore Elise Campbell, junior Sara Krueger and senior Annie Marquiss won with a time of 1:36.55. The RedHawks also won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:57.34. The relay included senior Katie Bootsma, juniors Stephanie Nemeth and Natalie Rohr and freshman Casey Frazier.

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Nemeth and freshmen Morgan Quesnel and Shay Spelman earned their first collegiate wins. Nemeth won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.38, while Quesnel finished first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:10.30. Spelman took the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle with times of 10:23.51 and 5:09.43. Other individual winners include Marquiss, Campbell, junior Aubrey Kluth and sophomore Logan Klinsky. Marquiss took the 50-yard freestyle clocking a time of 24.00, and Campbell won the 200-yard breastroke in a time of 2:25.89. In the 400-yard individual medley, Kluth took first with a time of 4:33.46. Klinsky won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.37.

After the meet, LeMire said the team came out motivated for a strong performance after the loss at Purdue the previous day.

"Our team finished really strong today," said LeMire. "We started off strong, and we usually finish strong when we start off strong."

The team has high expectations for the season. "We're going to win. We have a poster in our locker room that we look at every day for motivation," said LeMire. "We have some new fresh talent, so there's a good chance."

Miami's next meet is against Ohio State at 6: 30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 in the Nixon Aquatic Center.