Marshall University Athletics
Herd Looks to Continue Recent Success Against Xavier Saturday
10/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 13, 2005
CINCINNATI - The Marshall Thundering Herd women's swimming and diving team will look to move its record to above .500 when it faces the Xavier Musketeers in a 2 p.m. meet Saturday at the O'Connor Sports Center.
Last weekend, Marshall (1-1) won its season-opener 153-120 over the Radford Highlanders Friday, but later fell 126-92 at Virginia Tech Saturday.
"It's a unique situation for us," Marshall head coach Leonard Kraus said. "We are swimming in just four lanes, which is the way swimming used to be scored.
"So, it puts a little more pressure on our relays," Kraus added. "It's important to win both relays because that's where the focus is."
The meet Saturday will be the first of the 2005-06 season for the Musketeers, which finished 4-10-1 last season. The Musketeers finished fifth at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.
"They are a good team. They didn't like losing the last two years to us and they will be well prepared."
At Radford, Casey Mulholland's (Stone Mountain, Ga.) first-place finishes in the one- and three-meter diving events propelled the Herd to a 33-point win over the Highlanders.
The story, however, in the season opener was sophomore transfer Michaela Sceli (LaSalle, Ontario) who broke the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a clocking of 2:26.11. She was the only multi-swim event winner for the Herd at Radford.
"We need to put someone in front of each event to win as many as we can," Kraus continued. "We have to be able to go out and win the events.
"We can't rely on our divers with no diving this weekend. It's a pure swimming event on Saturday."
Last season, Marshall, which holds a 2-0 all-time lead in the series, pummeled the Musketeers 173-62 at the Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium, helping lift the Thundering Herd to a 4-0 record to start the 2004-05 season.
"We have a couple of more girls healthy to compete for us this weekend. Hopefully we can come out with a good win."
Following the meet Saturday at Xavier, the Marshall Thundering Herd women's swimming and diving team will return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, when it travels to Morgantown, W.Va., to face in-state rival West Virginia University.
