Hampton, Va. – The Duquesne University swimming & diving team wrapped up competition at the Richmond Duals on Saturday morning, securing a 161-138 over the host Spiders during its head-to-head dual meet.
The Dukes would collect 24 medals on the final day, including 10 first-place finishes and eight silvers.

The 200-yard medley relay kicked off the second day off, with the Dukes securing the silver. The team of Senior Haley Scholer and freshman Jessica Burns, Rachel Howard, and Kaitlyn Connors posted a time of 1:45.60 to secure second place.

Scholer enjoyed another prolific day, earning a top three finish in all four events she competed in. She took first in the 100-yard backstroke after touching the wall at 56.99 before finishing second in the 100-yard free, with a time of 52.76. The senior ended her day by taking home the silver in the 200 IM, clocking a time of 2:07.34.

Freshman Jessica Burns collected a pair of top finishes for the Dukes. She touched the wall at 1:05.58 in the 100-yard breaststroke to take first while earning the gold in the 200 breaststroke, with a time of 2:20.54. Classmate Ashley Freel enjoyed an impressive outing in day two, recording a medal in every event. She earned the gold in the 200 butterfly (2:08.36) before securing a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly (56.61). Freel was a member of the 400 freestyle relay team that took gold with a time of 3:32.97 as she finished with a bronze in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.32).

"We were pleased with the results this weekend," head coach David Sheets said. "Our veterans stepped up and showed the way for our young team. It's hard to tell how freshmen will respond when put in a meet situation, but our group did not disappoint.They came ready to race and did a decent job of managing the two days of competing. With this meet now in our rearview mirror we will get back to work on Monday and continue to focus on getting better."

Duquesne enjoyed a fantastic day off the board, earning the top three spots in the one-meter dive. Junior Ashley Felitsky took the gold with a total score of 268.05 while sophomore Lydia Redd (222.05) and freshman Brianne Dempsey (221.15) took the silver and bronze. Later in the day, Felitsky would take the top spot in the three-meter dive, registering a total score of 244.45. Junior Kendall Nigh would take the bronze in the same event after posting a score of 223.95.

"The diving team came prepared for this weekend and it showed," diving coach Jeff Brown said. "They started strong on Friday on 3m scoring for the team with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes out of 17 divers. It was a team effort with six divers scoring throughout the meet. I'm proud of all them. It was a lot of diving and they showed grit. Ashley led the group, getting on the podium in every event including an NCAA Zone qualifying score on 1m. Freshman Bri Dempsey also had a great overall performance scoring for the team in all events."

The team of Freel, Howard, Connors, and sophomore Lexi Sundgren took hole first-place in the 400-yard freestyle relay by clocking in at 3:32.97. Senior Orla Egan ended her day by taking the gold in the 1650-yard freestyle after recording a time of 17.41.37. She also took home a bronze in the 500 free after touching the wall at 5:14.02, finishing behind Sundgren, who took second with a time of 5:11.41. Sundgren also finished with a silver in the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 1:54.76.

Freshman Sierra Snow tallied her first gold of her rookie season, taking first in the 200-yard backstroke witha a time of 2:05.06. Sophomore Abby Philipsen finished in third-place in the 100 backstroke (59.11) while freshman Caitlin Horning took silver in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:06.10 while Rachel Howard finished with the bronze in the 100-yard fly (58.39).

UP NEXT
Duquesne returns back to Pittsburgh when it hosts Marshall on Friday, Oct. 18 at 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 19 at 11:00 a.m. inside Towers Pool.