Duquesne at Marshall
Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 | 6:00 p.m.
Huntington, W.Va. | Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium

Duquesne at Marshall/Bowling Green
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 | 11:00 a.m.
Huntington, W.Va. | Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium

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OFF THE STARTING BLOCK
- The Duquesne University swimming and diving team hits the road when they travel to Huntington, W.Va., to take on Marshall in head-to-head competition on Friday, Jan. 16, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The Dukes will then return on Saturday, Jan. 17 for a tri-meet against the Herd and Bowling Green inside Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium.

- Duquesne opened the spring portion of its schedule last weekend with a dual meet at Buffalo, falling 165-135 to the Bulls inside the Alumni Arena Natatorium and Dorsi Raynolds Pool.

- The Dukes recorded 19 top-three finishes on the day, highlighted by eight gold medals. Duquesne opened the meet in the 200-yard medley relay, earning both silver and bronze finishes. The sophomore trio of Sierra Snow, Jess Burns, Ashley Freel, and freshman Lucy Backus placed second with a time of 1:45.67, while the team of freshman Norah Kotnik, senior Sydney Severini, sophomore Rachel Howard, and freshman Emily Kyre finished third at 1:47.65.

- Sophomore Kaitlyn Connors delivered Duquesne's first gold medal in the 150-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 1:22.97. Connors added a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.45.

- The Dukes then swept the podium in the 100-yard backstroke, led by Snow's winning time of 57.09. Sophomore Caitlin Horning followed in second (58.47), with Kotnik securing third place at 59.17.

- Burns kept her strong performance going in the 100-yard breaststroke, earning a silver medal with a time of 1:05.27. She later captured gold in the 150-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:41.49.

- Freel added a second-place individual finish in the 150-yard butterfly with a time of 1:29.56 before claiming gold in the 100-yard butterfly at 56.55. Backus led the Dukes in the 50-yard freestyle, taking first place with a time of 23.75, and followed with a silver medal in the 100-yard freestyle by clocking in at 52.79. In the 150-yard backstroke, Kotnik secured the top spot with a time of 1:30.97, narrowly edging Horning, who finished second at 1:31.06.

The Series vs. Marshall – Friday night will mark the 13th meeting between the Dukes and the Thundering Herd, with the all-time series deadlocked at 6–6. Duquesne snapped a two-meet skid against Marshall last season, earning a thrilling 180–177 victory inside Towers Pool. The meet saw a total of nine pool records broken between the two teams—six by the Dukes—the most pool records ever set in a single women's meet at Towers Pool. Four individual swimmers, along with the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams, highlighted the historic performance. Marshall held a narrow lead heading into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, but the Duquesne quartet of freshmen Kaitlyn Connors and Ashley Freel, sophomore Lexi Sundgren, and senior Haley Scholer captured gold while securing a pool record with a time of 3:25.71. The mark shattered the previous record of 3:30.43, set by Duquesne in 2020. The Dukes also claimed bronze in the event, as the team of sophomore Julia Sobun, senior Orla Egan, freshman Rachel Howard, and junior Katie Simpson touched the wall at 3:29.26. Sundgren added another pool record in the 500-yard freestyle, taking first place with a time of 4:56.39. In head-to-head events, Scholer opened the meet with a gold-medal performance in the 100-yard backstroke, defeating Mia McBride and breaking her own pool record with a time of 54.05. Freshman Jess Burns followed with a first-place finish and a pool record in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking 1:03.31 to surpass the previous mark of 1:03.71 set by Madison Dickert in 2020. The 200-yard medley relay team of Scholer, Burns, Howard, and Connors claimed first place while breaking another pool record at 1:43.04, eclipsing the previous Dukes record of 1:44.67 from 2020. In the next event, Connors secured an individual pool record in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 23.30 to edge Kseniia Luniushina (23.36). The previous record of 23.48 was held by Halle Myers of St. Bonaventure.

Buffalo Remains - Duquesne's diving team also competed at Buffalo in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. In the 1-meter, senior Ashley Felitsky led the Dukes with a fourth-place finish, scoring 242.64. Sophomore Brianne Dempsey followed with a score of 200.48, while junior Erin Castagnero (199.35) and freshmen Elly Huron (187.50) and Grace Hedger (164.10) also represented Duquesne. Felitsky again paced the Dukes in the 3-meter event, earning a fifth-place finish with a score of 241.95. Dempsey placed seventh at 209.03, while Huron (205.20), Castagnero (192.68), and Hedger (189.68) rounded out the scoring. Later in the meet, Snow continued the momentum for the Dukes by capturing gold in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:06.16. In the 100-yard butterfly, Howard earned a third-place finish, touching the wall at 57.52. Kyre added another podium performance for Duquesne with a third-place finish in the 200-yard IM (2:09.41), followed closely by classmate Kira Schrecongost in fourth (2:11.27). Sophomore Surrena Luna rounded out the event in fifth place with a time of 2:12.86.

75 Greatest - Head coach David Sheets has earned a spot on the "75 Greatest Male Athletes" list announced by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Sheets, a 1994 Clarion University graduate and 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, was a 20-time NCAA Division II All-American and nine-time PSAC champion. An outstanding backstroke and individual medley specialist, he starred for the Golden Eagles men's swimming and diving program from 1990-93 under legendary coach Bill Miller, earning recognition as both a leader in the pool and as team captain his senior year. The 1992 season was a historic one for Sheets, as he swept the PSAC titles in both the 100 and 200 backstroke while leading Clarion to the conference championship and a remarkable runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships, the highest national finish in program history.

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