RESULTS

KEY LARGO, Fla. - The Duquesne swimming and diving team took on South Dakota in the 2018 Orange Bowl Swim Classic as part of the Dukes' Florida Training Trip on Wednesday morning at the Jacobs Aquatic Center in Key Largo, Fla. Duquesne defeated the Coyotes by a score of 284-164 in the matchup, picking up first-place finishes in all 12 events on the day.

Seniors Lexi Santer (Wilmington, Del./Charter School of Wilmington) and Abby Watson (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette), along with juniors Abigail Stauffer (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) and Emily Thirion (Warren, Ohio/Warren) each paced the Dukes with two individual event victories.

Thirion won both the 50-meter butterfly (29.95) and the 50-meter breaststroke (34.76) and was part of the winning 200-meter medley relay team with Watson, Stauffer and senior Michelle Heim (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) with a time of 2:01.38 and the winning 200-meter freestyle relay squad with junior Kristen McKnight (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton), sophomore Carson Gross (York, Pa./York Suburban) and Heim with a mark of 1:51.59.

Watson finished first in the 100-meter backstroke (1:07.34) and the 50-meter backstroke (31.58), Santer paced the 100-meter freestyle (1:00.02) and the 50-meter freestyle (27.75), while Stauffer led all swimmers in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:15.46) and the 200-meter IM (2:26.93).

In addition, Gross paced the 400 freestyle with a mark of 4:30.51 and junior Morgan Smith (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) won the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:06.13,

Head coach David Sheets: "We are near the end of the trip and the ladies are tired. I explained to them that regardless of how they feel this is an opportunity to compete and that is what we expect. They did a great job of that today."

UP NEXT
The Dukes return home to face Ohio and Xavier on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. ET at Towers Pool.