PITTSBURGH - Duquesne and Akron squared off in a dual meet on Saturday which featured a unique format with 17 "mystery" events being picked just moments prior to the beginning of each respective race. The Zips, winners of the last five Mid-American Conference titles, came away with a 247-154 victory over the Dukes in a battle of reigning conference champions.

Both teams had a lineup in place prior to each event. When swimmers approached the blocks, the scorers' table picked events out of a hat before announcing which particular event would be raced for 17 of the 20 swimming events on the day.

Duquesne closed out the meet with three consecutive first-place finishes, including Hanna Everhart (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area) in the 1000-yard free (10:57.63), Kristen McKnight (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) in the 50-yard fly (27.03) and the 400-yard medley relay team of Emma Brinton (Landenberg, Pa./Avon Grove), Abigail Stauffer (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg), Audrey Steen (San Pedro, Calif./San Pedro) and Heather Svitavsky (Willoughby, Ohio/Hawken) with a time of (4:09.59).

Brinton added second-place marks in the 100-yard free (53.99) and 200-yard backstroke (2:13.39) as well as a third-place finish in the 500-yard free (5:10.02).

Morgan Smith (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) placed second in the 200-yard IM (2:17.03) and third in the 200-yard fly (2:11.28) and 50-yard fly (27.61) for the Dukes.

Steen finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.46) and the 50-yard breaststroke (27.58) on the day.

Clare Flanagan (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) posted two second-place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.33) and the 100-yard IM (1:03.47).

Carson Gross (York, Pa./York Suburban) placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:30.99) and third in the 50-yard backstroke (28.76) for Duquesne.

Cateri Christinis (Charleroi, Pa./Oakland Catholic) also registered a second-place performance in the 200-yard free (1:59.52) while Heather Svitavsky placed second in the 50-yard free (25.51).

Sophia Perez (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) notched two third-place marks in the 100-yard fly (59.74) and 100-yard IM (1:04.29) while Lauren Devorace (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) finished third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.49) and 50-yard free (25.58).

Gabrielle Werner (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) also posted a pair of third-place performances in the 50-yard backstroke (33.68) and the 1000-yard free (11:19.70).

Several Dukes added third-place showings including Stauffer in the 400-yard IM (4:39.15), Lauryn Ober (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.52) and Mia Beyerl (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) in the 200-yard IM (2:17.03).  

The Duquesne divers battled the Zips at Carnegie Mellon University prior to the swim portion of the meet. Adrienne White (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) led the Dukes with a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter (234.75) while Sawyer Weitzel (Celina, Ohio/Celina) led Duquesne in the 1-meter (214.88) with a fifth-place showing.

Head coach David Sheets: "The format Brian (Peresie) and I put together for this meet created a unique event for both teams. It was nice to see the kids get up and race in events they normally don't compete in. From a team perspective, the ladies did very well, competed and gave their best in every race. We are in the home stretch now and will start working on fine tuning every aspect of our swimming."

Head diving coach Charlie Hauser: "The divers are getting back in to competition mode. We had some really good corrections on things we have been working on, and Ashley (Dias) had a personal best. We need to tighten up some little things but this weekend was a good stepping stone to the point we want to get to."

NEXT UP
Duquesne concludes its home stand hosting a tri-meet against Ohio and Xavier next Saturday, Jan. 19 at Towers Pool.