(Posted February 13, 2005)

Wilkes-Barre, PA - For the second time in as many seasons the Juniata College swimming team has posted a best-ever finish at the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Swimming Championships. The Eagles finished the three-day event with 505 points, good for a third-place finish, matching its finish from a season ago. Juniata record 180 points on the final day to finish 81.5 points behind second-place University of Scranton, and 251 points behind MAC Champion Albright.

The Eagles got another gold-medal performance from senior Kathy Trainor (Upper Merion/King of Prussia) who placed first in the 100-yard freestyle. The Eagles then added two more scoring performances as Amy Hanson (Lancaster Catholic/Elizabethtown) finished sixth in the event and Allison Sweigart (Muhlenberg/Reading) finished 11th.

Juniata racked up 47 points in the 1,650 freestyle as the team produced four point-producing efforts. Kim Dierolf (Boyertown/Boyertown) led the way with a third-place finish in the event. Freshman Kasey Brough (Carlisle/Gardners) came home in fifth place, with Allison Engle (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) placing seventh. Rachel Almy (Foxcroft Academy/Charleston, Me.) rounded out the scoring with a 12th-place effort.

Juniata's Amy Sutherland (Norwich/Norwich, N.Y.) produced another top-level finish as she finished third in the 200-yard backstroke. Dierolf finished eighth in the event, while Dana Gais (Kiski Area/Saltsburg) added seven points with a 10th-place finish.

It was freshman Jenny Bair (Huntingdon/Huntingdon) who was Juniata's top finisher in the 200-yard breaststroke as she touched the wall in fourth place. Fellow freshman Carli Zoubek (Paul IV/Burke, Va.) placed ninth in the race, with Lauren Chiappetta (St. Charles/St. Charles, Il.) placing 15th.

Juniata then closed the meet by scoring 34 points with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Gais, Sutherland, Trainor and Hanson posted a time of 3:46.54 to help Juniata sew-up its third-place finish in the meet.

Prior to the past two seasons Juniata's best-ever finish at the MAC Championships had been a pair of fourth-place efforts. This year's point total of 505 was more than 55 points better than its total from the 2004 Championships.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.