Jan. 22, 2011
FAIRFAX, Va. - The Old Dominion women's swimming and diving team swept the competition, while the ODU men earned wins against two of its three opponents in the annual quad meet held at the Jim McKay Natatorium Saturday.
The ODU women swept the competition picking up wins over American (225-60), conference rival George Mason (177-121), and the United States Military Academy (203-95) to improve to 8-4 overall.
The ODU men meanwhile defeated American (254-38) and CAA rival George Mason (173.5-126.5), but fell to Army (156-144) to move their overall record to 6-2 on the year.
The Lady Monarchs were victorious in nine events with freshman Malin Ekstrand (Halmstad, Sweden) leading the way with three victories - one individual and a pair with the relay squads. Ekstrand was the top finisher in the 100 free with a time of 52.72. She joined senior April Barrientos (Va. Beach, Va.), junior Erla Haraldsdottir (Njardvik, Iceland), and Emma Forbes (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) on the winning 200 medley relay squad with their first place finish of 1:45.22. Ekstrand also swam anchor on the 400 free relay team joining Haraldsdottir, Forbes, and sophomore Carrie Goodman (Glen Allen, Va.) in collecting the first place time of 3:33.01.
In addition to helping the Lady Monarchs to the top place finish in the 200 medley, April Barrientos won the 100 back clocking in with a time of 57.05.
The ODU women had five other first place finishers including freshman Laura Cempel (Mokena, Ill.) in the 1650 free (17:21.01), sophomore Jessica Hubert (Newport News, Va.) in the 200 fly (2:07.39), sophomore Kimberley Rashleigh (Sydney, Australia) in the 200 back (2:06.12), freshman Abby Vance (Raleigh, N.C.) in the 500 free (5:04.34), and junior Maddie Stiles (Fairfax, Va.) in the 400 IM (4:32.72).
The Monarchs collected five first place finishes on the day led by junior Arni Arnason (Mosfellsbaer, Iceland) with three individual wins and a relay victory. Arnason led the Monarchs to first place times in the 100 free (45.32), 200 free (1:40.61), and 200 breast (2:03.04). He also swam the second leg on the winning 200 medley relay squad along with senior Mikael Ramkvist (Bjarred, Sweden), junior Birkir Jonsson (Keflavik, Iceland), and freshman Sidni Hoxha (Tirane, Albania).
Ramkvist and Hoxha later swam to top times in individual events as well. Ramkvist clocked in first in the 200 back (1:52.22), while Hoxha claimed the first place time in the 50 free (20.64).
Senior Josh Kinas (Reston, Va.) rounded out the Monarchs' top finishers by hitting the wall first in the 100 breast (58.03).
The ODU Swimming and Diving teams will return to the pool on Saturday, January 29th hosting N.C. State in their not only the final home meet of the year, but the final meet of the 2010-11 season before heading to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships.