MEADVILLE, Pa. – Relay event wins that bookended Saturday's dual meet with Allegheny College proved to be the difference as the Case Western Reserve University women's swimming & diving team notched its second dual match victory of the 2011-12 season on Saturday afternoon by a score of 154-139. The Spartans finished first and third in both the opening 400-yard medley and the closing 200-yard freestyle relay –good for a combined 26 teams points – while the Gators finished second in each event for eight total points.
Case (2-7), who competed for the first time in almost two months, returns to action on Friday, January 27 when it plays host to cross-town rival Baldwin-Wallace College in their final home dual match of the winter. The dual, scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., will also serve as Seniors' Night.
The Spartans opened the afternoon with the victory in the 400-yard medley relay behind the quartet of senior Stephanie Campbell (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield), sophomore Sara Tillie (Fallston, Md./Fallston), sophomore Maggie Dillione (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) and senior Jessica Nuhfer (Warren, Pa./Warren Area) with a time of 4:05.39.
In that same event, four crucial team points and a third-place showing came from the team of sophomore Kathryn Madalena (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side), junior Krysta Payne (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley), freshman Sophia Colevas (Washington, D.C./St. John's College) and freshman Sarah Mastrandrea (East Amherst, N.Y./Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart), who finished in a time of 4:25.65.
The Spartans also closed the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay as Nuhfer, Campbell, sophomore Catherine Gormley (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) and Dillione were victorious with a mark of 1:41.68. The third-place quartet of senior Lucy Bollinger (Boulder, Colo./Fairview), freshman Brianna Cain (Perry, Ohio/Perry), Mastrandrea and Payne stopped the clock in 1:47.43.
Case also had a trio of individual double-winners on the afternoon with Dillione in the 100 butterfly (58.88) and the 200 butterfly (2:10.22), Tillie in both the 200 breast (2:34.57) and 200 individual medley (2:17.48) and Campbell in the 100 back (1:01.00) and the 200 back (2:11.46).
Nuhfer also took first in the 100 free (55.74).
