Women's Swimming Concludes Regular Season With Two Meets In New York Over The Weekend

Mount St. Mary's at Wagner
WHEN: Fri, Jan. 28, 2011, 4 p.m.
WHERE: Wagner Pool, Staten Island, N.Y.

EVENT: Mount St. Mary's at St. Francis (N.Y.)
WHEN: Sat, Jan. 29, 2011, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Brooklyn, N.Y.

opening dive... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team concludes the regular season with two meets against Northeast Conference opponents in New York over the weekend. The Mount will battle Wagner in State Island on Friday and then head to Brooklyn to face St. Francis (N.Y.) on Saturday. The Mountaineers will face the Seahawks for the fifth time dating back to thte 2007-08 season with Wagner holding a 4-0 advantage while the Mount will face the Terriers for the fourth time in team history with the Mountaineers staking a 3-0 edge in the series.

last time out... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team split a tri-meet with Liberty and VMI on Jan. 15. The Mount defeated the host Keydets 73-28 while the Flames downed the Mountaineers 72-23. Cat Coppler earned the lone victory for Mount St. Mary's in the 100 back (1:01.62). Patricia Yam registered three second-place finishes in 1000 free (11:57.86), the 200 IM (2:22.28) and the 500 free (5:35.96). Courtney Griffith placed second in the 100 free (54.22), Mollie Walsh finished second in the 100 fly (1:03.41) and Murphy Alafoginis (2:15.88) was second in the 200 free (2:15.88). Joanna Hale (27.29) finished third in the 50 free (27.29), Alyssa Cummin placed third in the 200 IM (2:36.34) and Molly Kristiniak was third in the 100 breast (1:19.98). Griffith, Kristiniak, Walsh and Coppler finished second in the 200-medley relay (1:56.15) while Griffith, Walsh, Coppler and Hale (1:43.23) placed second in the 200-free relay.

last time against the seahawks... Wagner defeated Mount St. Mary's 125-70 Jan. 16, 2010. Jeanne Marie Benedetti paced the Mount with a first-place finish in the 400 free (4:48.34) and a second-place standing in the 800 free (10:01.25). Courtney Griffith won the 100 free (1:02.44) and finished second in the 100 IM (2:33.07). Maggie O'Connell Dubois notched two top-3 finishes on the night after finishing second in the 50 free (30.09) and second in the 200 fly (2:44.62). Courrtney Gaddi placed second in the 200 free (2:19.19) while Mary Beth Kasda finished right behind Gaddi in third place (2:22.05). Heather Kurtzman (2:37.19) finished third (2:37.19) in the 200 IM. Paige Chenet notched a third-place standing in the 200 back (2:36.47). Chenet, Kasda, O'Connell Dubois and Gaddi teamed up to finish second in the 200-medley relay (2:10.59) while Chenet, Benedetti, Griffith and Gaddi finished second in the 400-free relay (4:12.64).

last time against the terriers... Courtney Griffith won three events to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 90-28 win against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Nov. 14, 2009. Griffith won the 200 free (2:11.02), the 100 free (1:00.74) and the 100 fly (1:07.93). She also swam the opening leg in the winning 400-free relay (4:11.06). Courtney Gaddi, Paige Chenet and Jeanne Marie Benedetti completed the four-person relay for the victory. Bendetti won the 400 free (4:47.29) and finished second in the 800 free (9:53.96). Chenet placed second in the 100 back (1:12.30) and third in the 50 free (29.70) while Gaddi was third in the 100 free (1:02.67). Along with Griffith and Benedetti, junior Heather Kurtzman registered the Mount's final first-place finish on the day in the 200 IM (2:39.35). Alyssa Cummin finished third in the event (2:48.16). Kurtzman also finished third in the 100 back (1:13.36) and the 200 back (2:36.05). Maggie O'Connell Dubois placed second in the 100 fly (1:12.71) and third in the 200 fly (2:43.22). Mary Beth Kasda notched a third-place standing in the 100 breast (1:25.03). Chenet, Kasda, O'Connell Dubois and Gaddi combined to finish second in the 200-medley relay (2:10.90).

next time in the water... The Mount will compete in the Northeast Conference Swimming & Diving Championships on Feb. 17-19 in Cambridge, Mass.

conference honors... Cat Coppler and Courtney Griffith were named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Swimmers of the Week for the first week of the season. It was their first career weekly conference honor. The duo paced the Mount to five relay victories and one second-place finish at the Bloomsburg Relays on Saturday. The Mountaineers won the 300-fly relay (3:02.46), the 800-free relay (8:18.67), the 200-free relay (1:43.82), the 400-free relay (3:45.67) and the 500-free crescendo relay (5:01.80) while finishing second in the 4x100 IM (4:26.88). Coppler made the most of her collegiate debut swimming the opening leg in the 300-fly relay, the 800-free relay the 200-free relay, the 400-free relay and the 4x100 IM relay while anchoring the winning 500-free crescendo relay. Griffith, a sophomore, swam the second leg of the 300-fly relay and the 800-free relay before swimming the third leg of the 200-free relay, the 400-free relay, the 500-free crescendo relay and 4x100 relay. It marked the first time in the five-year program history of the women's swimming team that a Mount swimmer has been honored with the top conference swimming weekly award.

conference honors again for griffith... Courtney Griffith was named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Swimmers of the Week for the week of Nov. 9-15. It is the sophomore's second NEC weekly award after sharing the honor with teammate Cat Coppler (Enfield, Conn./Enrico Fermi) for the first week of the season. Griffith broke four team records in a tri meet against Loyola and Howard on Saturday. The sophomore won the 100 fly (59.76) and finished second in the 100 free (54.36) and the 200 free (1:59.36). The Westminster, Md., native also swam the second leg of the winning 200-free relay (1:42.09). The Mountaineers defeated Howard 148-117 while Mount St. Mary's fell to Loyola 160-120. It marked the second time this season the Mount has earned the NEC Swimmer of the Week honor after not earning the award in the first four years in program history.

home pool advantage in 2010-11... Mount St. Mary's hosted three days of competition this season, all before the end of the 2010 calendar year. The squad hosted Manhattan, Saint Peter's and VMI on Oct. 29 and 30 before welcoming Radford to Emmitsburg on Dec. 4. The Mount holds a 13-6 mark at home, including a 6-1 mark in 2010-11, a 4-1 record in 2008-09 and a 3-1 standing in 2007-08.

about the team... Head coach Neil Yost's 2010-11 team is comprised of one senior (Murphy Alafoginis), two juniors (Molly Kristiniak and Chelsea Marrocco), two sophomores (Alyssa Cummin and Courtney Griffith) and eight freshman (Jess Boegner, Cat Coppler, Emily Dargay, Jessica Gardner, Joanna Hale, Victoria Shaw, Mollie Walsh and Patricia Yam).

local product... Sophomore Courtney Griffith hails from Westminster, Md. A graduate of Westminster High School, the sophomore was a member of the Eagles Club at McDonough High School for four years. Griffith finished ninth in the 100 back in the NEC Championships last year.

new to the mountain... Head coach Neil Yost has added nine newcomers to his 2010-11 roster. Senior Murphy Alafoginis and freshmen Jess Boegner, Cat Coppler, Emily Dargay, Jessica Gardner, Joanna Hale, Victoria Shaw, Mollie Walsh and Patricia Yam all joined the swimming program this season.

about the coach... Neil Yost, who enters his sixth season, became the first head coach in program history. Yost came to the Mount with nine years of coaching experience. Since 2002, Yost was the men's and women's swimming coach at Waynesboro High School. He also served as the head swimming coach and aquatics director at the Waynesboro Area YMCA. Before coaching at Waynesboro High School he was the aquatics director at the Westport/Weston YMCA from 2001-02. He was also the assistant swimming coach at Bloomsburg University and the head coach at the Central Columbia Aquatics Club for two years after serving as an assistant coach for two years. Yost started his coaching career as an assistant coach at the Central Columbia Aquatics High School from 1996-2000.