FULL RESULTS
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Jan. 15, 2011) – In their first action of the new year, the Saint Francis University swimming team earned a split of a tri-meet at Youngstown State on Saturday afternoon. The Red Flash defeated the home-standing Penguins, 157-137 but fell to the Akron Zips, 177-117.
The day's competition moves SFU's record to 9-3 – one win shy of the program mark for dual meet victories in a season.
“This was a really strong performance coming off of some hard weeks of work,” said Flash head coach Patrick Gallagher.
“We were missing a few people but we had others that really stepped it up. As a coach, that's an encouraging sign as we enter the last few weeks of the season.
The Flash got things started with a second-place time of 1:51.62 in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jessica Dunn (Bristow, Va./Seton School), Elise Löfgren, Hanna Yttring (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelundsgymnasiet) and Melissa Heintz (Boyertown, Pa./Oley Valley) also notched the ninth-fastest time in school annals with the swim.
Kathleen Lyon (King George, Va./King George) took first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle by swimming a 10:44.58, which was the afternoon's fastest time by over four seconds.
In the 200 free, Jenny Demjanenko was beat out by less than a second to claim silver with a time of 1:56.96. Heintz was close behind, swimming a 1:57.78 to take third.
Löfgren and freshman Libby Francis (Dundee, Scotland/Grove Academy) won the next two events for Saint Francis. Löfgren won the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming a 1:07.81 and Francis took over the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:09.07 – more than three seconds faster than the nearest challenger.
Dunn returned to action in the day's 10th event, the 200-yard backstroke, to post a second-place time of 2:09.78. Katrina Wilhite (Sparks, Nev./Edward C. Reed) swam the afternoon's third-fastest time with a 2:11.95.
Löfgren rounded out her day by swimming a meet-best and Red Flash top-10 time of 5:11.99 in the 500 free and taking second place in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:12.20.
Francis earned her second gold of the day by narrowly carrying the 100-yard butterfly with a swim of 58.76.
Saint Francis returns to action on Saturday when it takes part in the Rutgers Invitational in Camden, N.J. Minnesota, Harvard, Toledo and Rider will also participate in the event.
