Swimming: Mountaineers Open Competition
October 16, 2009 09:44 AM | General
By Grant Dovey for MSNsportsNET.com
October 16, 2009
MEET NOTES
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| Morgan Callaway |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia women’s swimming and diving team will officially open up 2009-10 competition on Saturday, Oct. 17, when it hosts Marshall for a dual meet at noon in the WVU Natatorium.
This will be the second consecutive season that the women opened with Marshall as the Thundering Herd hosted the Mountaineers last season in a quad-meet with East Carolina and Xavier. The women defeated both Marshall and Xavier, while losing to East Carolina.
“This is our first meet of the season and we’re looking forward to racing,” coach Vic Riggs says. “It will give us an opportunity to see where we are with our training and some of the girls get to swim their best events.”
Anxious to return to the competition setting, the Mountaineer women are led by senior Morgan Callaway in the free and back events. Callaway is only one of two West Virginia NCAA qualifiers to return for the 2009-10 season. Alongside Callaway, senior Kayla Andrews will look to continue her run to the 2010 NCAA Championships. Seniors Shaunna Purtell and Stephanie Shupe will lead the free and fly events, respectively.
The women have also brought in top recruits in Rachael Burnett, Austen Carrington, Kata Fodor, Robyn Matthews, Breanna McCann, Amanda Nugent, Sloan Storie and Nikki Vetterlein.
“We’re looking at this meet as an information gathering meet about our team,” Riggs says. “We are going to be asking, what are we doing well and what do we need to improve on? I’m sure Marshall will come prepared.”
Marshall will come in to the meet with a dual meet record of 0-1 after losing to Xavier by a score of 161-135. The Thundering Herd used two-first place finishes apiece from Jenny Johnsson and Arlie Rykosky in the effort.
For live results and a recap of the meet, please check out MSNsportsNET.com.
