Dukes Show Consistency at Gamecock Invitational

November 22, 2009 • By Colleen Hayes,
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Heading into the final day of the 2009 Gamecock Invitational, the JMU women’s swim and dive teams were determined to keep their spirits high.

“I think we just didn’t want to drop off,” senior freestyler PJ Naber said. ”A lot of teams start to let fatigue set in, and I think we were just determined to keep our momentum.”

JMU was in sixth place out of nine teams Friday, as it awaited the finals that took place on Saturday. Competing with schools such as the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida, the Dukes were proud that they held onto their sixth place finish.

“This was one of the biggest meets JMU has ever been to,” junior diver Jessie Everett said. ”So I think we wanted to show the other schools we are here, and we can compete.”

Everett finished fourth in the 3-meter dive final, beating her personal best record with a score of 293.70.

“As a team, we did very well in the finals,” sophomore diver Nicole Jotso said. ”In the 1-meter we had two girls make finals, and in the 3-meter we had four girls in the finals, and they all placed in the top twelve.”

While the diving team held its own, the swimmers had more events to handle, thus even more intense competition.

A notable standout was freshman flyer Andrea Criscuolo who finished the 200-meter fly event, with a time of 2 minutes, 5.90 seconds, taking fourteenth place.

“Andrea is someone to keep an eye on,” Naber said. ”She keeps inching closer to the school record every day.”

Naber was also part of an impressive freestyle relay team that includes sophomores Christina Lepore, Becca Hunt and Emily Vance. The women finished in sixth out of 24 teams, with a time of 3:32.58.

Now that they have had a taste of big name competition, the divers know they need to step up their practice regimen to increase their success.

“We need to make our dives harder,” Jotso said. ”Basically, just incorporate higher degrees of difficulty. It was really good to be around that type of competition this weekend, because we realized we need to step it up.”

The Dukes have a bit of a break before their next meet Jan. 23 at Towson University.

“We have a full month to prepare, so we are going to keep holding on and maintaining positive attitudes,” Naber said. ”We also have our training trip in Florida coming up, which has been a huge staple for us. So we are excited for the rest of the season.”

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Dukes Show Consistency at Gamecock Invitational

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