Swim and Dive Falls in Season-Opening Meet at Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University swim and dive team dropped its season-opening meet to the University of Kentucky Wildcats, 179.5-93.5, Oct. 13, inside Lancaster Aquatic Center on the UK campus.

"It was a great meet to start off the season. Kentucky brought the energy and made it easy for us to get up to compete at a high level. We saw a lot of positive results but many things to work on. I'm very excited for this group moving forward!," said Head Swim Coach Derek Perkins.

Eastern excelled in the 400 IM Friday evening as it claimed the top four spots in the event with performances from Abby Szadorski (Oswego, Ill./Oswego East), Tristen Mina (Sanat Clara, Calif./The King's Academy), Taylor Harris (Tiffin, Ohio/Calvert/Bowling Green State), and Maren Romine (San Antonio, Texas/International School of the Americas). Szadorski took home first place in the event, finishing in 4:34.10.

Eastern's A and B 200 yard freestyle relay teams followed suit with the 400 IM competitors, as they too claimed the top two spots with Katie Shoen (Owego, N.Y/Owego Free Academy), Lucy Noble (Flagler Beach, Fla./Flagler Palm Coast), Kiersten Russell (Clinton, Mich./Saline), and Katarina Pastar (Vienna, Austria/Gymnasium) clocking in at 1:37.67 for the A team. The B team, consisting of Emma Littrell (Taylor Mill, Ky./St. Henry District), Abbey Whipple (State College, Pa./State College Area), Hannah Ward (Waterford, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic), and Hannah Hardin (Granville, Ohio/Granville) finished closely behind in 1:38.70

Sophomore Ali Kudo (Guelph, Ontario/John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institue) picked up where she left off from her All-MAC Second Team season one year ago, as she placed second in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:04.81.

Shoen and Noble continued to contribute with second and third place finishes in the 50 yard freestyle. Shoen swam the distance in 23.84 while Noble did so in 23.96.

On the boards, EMU's divers made it look easy with Eagles filling the top four spots in the one-meter dive. Senior Savannah Fisk (Chelsea,Mich./Chelsea) placed first, scoring 257.93 points. Fisk was followed by Keira Veltigian (Oxford, Mich./Oxford) (251.48), Malia Marie (San Luis Obispo, Calif/San Luis Obispo) (231.83), and Rebekah Knapp (Mesa, Ariz./Skyline) (200.18). Additionally, Marie's 231.83 goes down as a career-best for the second-year Eagle.

The Green and White found its way high onto the three-meter diving leaderboards as well with Veltigian leading the way for EMU, notching 268.73 points, tailed closely by Camryn Hughes (London, Ontario/Sir Frederick Banting Secondary), who posted 264.23.

Individual Event Results

200 Medley Relay
4. EMU A (Russell, LaRosa, Mina, Shoen) – 1:46.06
5. EMU B (Sang, Harris, Clarino, Noble) – 1:46.60
6. EMU C (Hardin, Szadorski, Pastar, Littrell) – 1:49.73

1,000 Freestyle
4. Ali Kudo – 10:37.57
5. Morgan Hofmeister – 10:44.42

200 Freestyle
4. Emma Littrell – 1:56.74
6. Abbey Whipple – 1:59.37
7. Kiersten Russell – 1:59.47
8. Hannah Ward – 2:02.37

100 Backstroke
4. Siporah Sang – 57.62
6. Katarina Pastar – 1:00.8
7. Hannah Hardin – 1:03.71

100 Breaststroke
4. Abby Szadorski – 1:05.40
5. Nina LaRosa – 1:06.75
6. Taylor Harris – 1:07.07
7. Tristen Mina – 1:09.14

200 Butterfly
4. Olivia Clarino – 2:11.71
5. Maren Romine – 2:13.89

50 Freestyle
2. Katie Shoen – 23.84
3. Lucy Noble – 23.96
7. Hannah Hardin – 25.21

1 Meter Diving
1. Savannah Fisk – 257.93
2. Keira Veltigian - 251.48
3. Malia Maire – 231.83
4. Rebekah Knapp – 200.18

200 Backstroke
5.Siporah Sang – 2:08.80
6. Kiersten Russell – 2:09.93

200 Breaststroke
3. Abby Szadorski – 2:21.85
5. Taylor Harris – 2:26.07
6. Nina LaRosa – 2:28.20
8. Madelyn Sursi – 2:34.02

500 Freestyle
2. Ali Kudo – 5:04.81
5. Morgan Hofmeister – 5:17.71
6. Hannah Ward – 5:33.83

100 Butterfly
T-2. Katarina Pastar – 57.90
4. Siporah Sang – 58.27
5. Olivia Clarino – 58.34
6. Tristen Mina – 58.63

3 Meter Diving
3. Keira Veltigian – 268.73
4. Camryn Hughes – 264.23
8. Rebekah Knapp – 239.70
9. Savannah Fisk – 237.83
10. Ciara Wheeler – 237.60
11. Malia Maire – 206.63
12. Cate Migliori – 206.55

400 IM
1. Abby Szadorski – 4:34.10
2. Tristen Mina – 4:45.82
3. Taylor Harris – 4:49.41
4. Maren Romine – 4:53.43

200 Freestyle Relay
1. EMU A (Shoen, Noble, Russell, Pastar) – 1:37.67
2. EMU B (Littrell, Whipple, Ward, Kudo) – 1:38.70

Up Next
EMU will continue its fall slate with its first true home meet inside the friendly confines of Jones Natatorium on the campus of EMU, as the Eagles are set to face-off with the RedHawks of Miami University, 1 p.m., Oct. 28. It will be the first time EMU has hosted a meet in its home pool since it hosted the 2021 MAC Championships, Apr. 15-17, 2021.

To stay up to date on all things EMU swimming and diving, continue to check EMUEagles.com, or follow the team on X, @EMUSwimDive, and Instagram, @emuswimanddive.

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Players Mentioned

Olivia Clarino

Savannah Fisk

Hannah Hardin

Taylor Harris

Morgan Hofmeister

Camryn Hughes

Rebekah Knapp

Nina Larosa

Emma Littrell

Malia Maire

Cate Migliori

Tristen Mina

Lucy Noble

Katarina Pastar

Maren Romine

Kiersten Russell

Siporah Sang

Katie Shoen

Madelyn Sursi

Abby Szadorski

Keira Veltigian

Hannah Ward

Ciara Wheeler

Abbey Whipple

Eastern Michigan Athletics