WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

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Bulls Break Three Records To Open Zippy Invitational

Andrea Lehner

AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo’s women’s swimming and diving team opened competition at the 2007 Zippy Invitational, hosted by the University of Akron, with a strong performance highlighted by two meet records and a UB school mark falling on the opening night of the meet. The Bulls currently stand second behind Mid-American Conference rival Ohio in the 11-team meet at Ocasek Natatorium. The Bulls collected 409 points on the opening night with Ohio scoring 417.

The Bulls opened the night with a UB and meet record in taking the 200-yard freestyle relay. The UB foursome of Andrea Lehner (Lockport, NY/Orchard Park), Sam Palma (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster), Meghan Lafferty (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) and Jessie Koltz (Chenango Bridge, NY/Chenango Valley) finished in 1:35.33, cutting nearly a second off the previous meet record (1:36.25) and more than a second off the old UB mark (1:36.47 set in 2002).

Lehner also excelled individually in setting a new meet record in winning the 200-yard individual medley in 2:04.37, breaking the mark of 2:04.69 set by Akron's Danielle Beland at the 2005 meet. Lehner won the race by two seconds over Duquesne's Melissa Johnson.

Meili Carpenter

Meili Carpenter (Boulder, CO/Fairview) also scored a victory for the Bulls, taking the women's 1-meter diving event with a six-dive total of 283.45 points in the finals.

The Bulls picked up a second-place finish in Friday's final event, the 400-yard medley relay. The UB team of Jessica Ballard (Montreal, Quebec/Academic Magnet), Ashley Schaffert (Lockport, NY/Lockport), Palma and Koltz finished in 3:53.96, three-quarters of a second behind Ohio's top foursome. The time by the Bulls was the fastest of the season in the event, lowering their previous best by nearly three seconds.

UB had two swimmers score championship points in both the 500-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle events.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Jordan Deren (Lackawanna, NY/Nardin Academy) finished fourth in 5:04.62 while Kim Dale (Cary, NC/Raleigh Charter) was fifth in 5:08.28. Deren cut almost four seconds off her season-best mark in the finals while Dale posted a season-best 5:06.71 in Friday's preliminary round.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Koltz turned in a fourth-place finish in 24.20, after clocking a season-best 24.08 in the preliminaries. Palma placed sixth in a season-best 24.31 after turning in a season-best 24.46 in the preliminaries.

Competition continues through Sunday.

Team scores: Ohio 417, UB 409, Illinois State 371, Xavier 355, Clarion 353, Akron 330, Duquesne 269, Shippensburg 122, Bloomsburg 102, Niagara 64, Alma 20.