Jan. 19, 2012
NEW YORK - The Old Dominion men's and women's swimming & diving teams have a busy weekend ahead of them. The Lady Monarchs and Monarchs will travel to New York and take on Montclair State and NYU on Friday, January 20 and then head up to West Point for a quad-meet featuring American, CAA rival George Mason, and host Army on Saturday, January 21.
The Monarch men's swimming & diving squad is coming off a 165-127 victory over East Carolina last Saturday. The win over the Pirates improved to the team 5-1 on the year as they were led by four-time Colonial Athletic Association Swimmer of the Week Arni Arnason (Mosfellsbaer, Iceland). Arnason, who picked up wins in the 100 & 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, helped Old Dominion win 10 of the meet's 16 events. Sophomore Sidni Hoxha (Tirane, Albania) was also a multiple event winner for the Monarchs last weekend with top times in the sprint freestyle events winning both the 50 and 100 freestyle.
The Lady Monarch women's swimming & diving squad is looking to rebound from a 143-155 setback to East Carolina, which dropped their overall record to 4-5 in dual meets.Despite the loss, the Lady Monarchs earned 10 individual event wins including junior Kimberley Rashleigh (Sydney, Australia), senior Erla Haraldsdottir (Njardvik, Iceland), junior Jessica Hubert (Newport News, Va.) and freshman Yesim Giresunlu (Istanbul, Turkey) all with multiple event victories.
Rashleigh led the way with three individual event wins in 100 & 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley, while Harladsdottir collected the top times in the 100 & 200 breaststroke. Hubert added wins in both the 100 & 200 butterfly while Giresunlu paced the Lady Monarchs in the distance events with victories in 500 & 1000 freestyle.
In last year's quad meet with Army, American, and George Mason, the women swept the competition with wins over American (225-60), George Mason (177-121), and the United States Military Academy (203-95) .
The ODU men meanwhile defeated American (254-38) and conference rival George Mason (173.5-126.5), but fell to Army (156-144).
Following this weekend's events, the Monarch and Lady Monarch swimming & diving teams will host their final dual meet of the 2011-12 season hosting Towson January 28 at 1:00 p.m. at the J.C. "Scrap" Chandler Pool in the Student Recreation Center. It will be senior day for the teams with Arni Arnason and Birkir Jonsson on the men's side and Kelsey Thompson, Madeline Stiles, Erla Haraldsdottir, and Emma Forbes on the women's side honored during the meet.