Jan. 20, 2008

Results

Loudonville, N.Y. - The Siena women's swimming and diving team captured their ninth win of the season, defeating MAAC rival Canisius 166-71 this afternoon at the Siena Swim Center. The victory marked the Saints (9-3, 5-1 MAAC) seventh straight over the Golden Griffins (2-10, 0-5 MAAC) who have now lost their last seven meets on the season.

Siena paced the pool in nine of 13 events on the afternoon, but no performance was more impressive than the Saints record setting time in the final event of the day in the 400 free relay. The team of Megan Dobbins, Brittany Pavolko, Caitlyn Biagioli and Rachel McShane combined to finish the heat in a time of 3:39.97 to set a new Siena Swim Center record. The previous mark of 3:40.78 had stood for eight years when the relay team from the University of Buffalo set the initial time in 2000.

"I'm extremely happy with the way our team performed today," remarked Head Coach Greg Brown. "Rachel McShane was especially impressive. She has put in a lot of hard work this season and really deserves to be a part of this new record."

McShane won two other individual events on the day, capping off a memorable afternoon as she also secured top times in the 50 free (:25.38) and the 100 free (:56.29).

The other multiple event winner on the day was Pavolko who finished first in the 200 free (2:01.88) and 200 fly (2:20.43).

Canisius saw their most success in the diving portion of the meet as senior diver Kaeli Abdo narrowly missed setting new pool records in capturing first place in both the 1-meter (229.65) and 3-meter dives (237.375).

Following three meets in a five day span, the Saints will get a breather before hosting Saint Francis (Pa.) in a non-league meet to conclude regular season competition on Saturday. Events are set to get underway shortly after 1 p.m. as prior to the meet Siena will honor graduating seniors Jacylyn Giunta, Jessica Cummings, Kaedy Graves and Dobbins during Senior Day festivities.