Women's Swimming Heads To Radford Invitational Starting On Thursday

EVENT: Mount St. Mary's at Radford Invitational
WHEN: Nov. 17-19, 2011
WHERE: Radford, Va.
TEAMS COMPETING: Campbell, Georgia Southern, Liberty, N.C. State, Millersville, Mount St. Mary's, North Florida, Radford, Saint Francis (Pa.), Youngstown State

opening dive... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team travels to the Radford Invitational on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It will be the third-straight season the Mountaineers will compete in the Highlanders three-day event.

last time at that event... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team finished fifth at the Radford Invitational on Nov. 19-21, 2010. Courtney Griffith continued to be a dominate force in the pool to lead the Mount to its most points in an invitational and doubling last year's total at the Radford Invitational with 446 points. Griffith won two events, finished second in two events and a seventh place standing while helping the Mount earn a second and three relay third place finishes at the invitational and accounted for 216 of the Mount's 446 points. She won the 100 fly (57.36) and the 100 back (59.36) to set a new team record in each event, finished second in the 50 free (24.47) and the 100 free (52.79) and finished seventh in the 1650 free (18:52.70) after notching the best time in the preliminaries. Griffith then helped the Mount to a second in the 200-free relay (1:39.65) and third-place standings in the 200-medley relay (1:57.72), the 800-free relay (7:54.91) and the 400-free relay (3.37.18). Cat Coppler finished second in the 200 back (2:09.79), third in the 1650 free (17:49.00), third in the 100 back (1:01.01), fourth in the 50 free (24.60) and fourth in the 100 fly (59.18). Patricia Yam won the 200 fly (2:08.84), finished fourth in the 400 IM (4:45.96), fifth in the 200 free (1:58.58) and ninth in the 200 back (2:12.39). Mollie Walsh was sixth in the 200 back (2:12.94), seventh in the 100 back (1:02.33) and 10th in the 100 fly (1:00.28).

last time out… The trio of Cat Coppler, Patricia Yam and Erin Regan each won two events to pace the Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team to a pair of wins on Oct. 29. The Mount defeated Manhattan 131-61 and McDaniel 113-77 on the day. Coppler won the 200 IM (2:32.28) and the 200 back (2:32.47) while Yam was victories in the 200 free (2:15.55) and the 400 free (4:47.42). The duo paced the Mountaineers with four victories in the two days. Regan won the 800 free (9:47.08) and the 200 fly (2:30.00). Courtney Griffith finished first in the 50 free (27.90) and Anne Thelan won the 100 free (1:02.02). Mollie Walsh placed second in the 50 free (28.13) and third in the 200 back (2:36.79) while Amanda Malmstrom finished second in the 200 free (2:21.89). Victoria Shaw posted third-place finishes in the 800 free (10:33.18) and the 400 free (5:08.25). The relay team of Yam, Murphy Alafoginis, Malmstrom and Regan won the 800-free relay (9:20.89) while Coppler, Thelan, Walsh and Catherine Sukovich finished second in the 200-medley relay (2:07.43).

next time in the water... The Mount will return to action at Duquesne on Jan. 21.

on mountathletics.tv… The Mount St. Mary's University athletic department has announced the addition of women's swimming to its www.MountAthletics.tv streaming schedule. The Mount will add four women's swimming home dates to its streaming schedule. The first broadcast on MountAthletics.tv will be the squad's home opener against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Monday at 5 p.m. Wagner (Oct. 22), the quad meet with Manhattan, NJIT and McDaniel (Oct. 29) and Loyola (Feb. 4) will also be available. Single meet subscriptions for all live events will be available throughout the season for $6.95.

touching the wall first… Sophomore Cat Coppler leads the team with eight individual wins in dual meets. Sophomore Patricia Yam has six victories and freshman Erin Regan has five wins this season. Junior Courtney Griffith has two wins while sophomore Mollie Walsh and freshman Anne Thelan each have a win apiece.

home pool advantage in 2011-12... Mount St. Mary's will host five days of competition this season. The Mount opened the home slate against Saint Francis (Pa.) (L, 91-168) on Oct. 17 before hosting Wagner on Oct. 22 (L, 106-146). The squad hosted Manhattan for two days and McDaniel and VMI each for one day on Oct. 28-29 and went 4-0 in the two-day event. The squad concludes its home schedule against Loyola on Feb. 4. The Mount holds a 17-6 mark at home, including a 6-0 record in 2010-11, 4-1 record in 2008-09 and a 3-1 standing in 2007-08.

preseason poll… The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team has been picked fifth in the Northeast Conference (NEC) women's swimming preseason coaches poll. Two-time defending champion Saint Francis (Pa.) picked up four of the seven first-place votes to be tabbed as the preseason favorite. Central Connecticut State garnered two first-place nods to finish second while Bryant nabbed the final first-place vote to place third in the poll. Wagner, Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart and St. Francis (N.Y.) rounded out the seven-team field.

bowling for swimmers… The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team went bowling in Waynesboro, Pa., on Oct. 11 for a team building exercise. Check out the video here.

about the team... Head coach Neil Yost's 2010-11 team is comprised of one graduate student (Murphy Alafoginis), two seniors (Molly Kristiniak and Chelsea Marrocco), one junior (Courtney Griffith) and eight sophomores (Cat Coppler, Emily Dargay, Megan Ebert, Jessica Gardner, Nicole Helmick, Victoria Shaw, Mollie Walsh and Patricia Yam) and four freshmen (Rebecca Kasda, Amanda Malmstrom, Erin Regan, Anne Thelen).

record-setting season…  Junior Courtney Griffith became the first player in program history to earn a spot on the All-Northeast Conference team after finishing second in the 100 fly (56.06) in 2011. Sophomore Patricia Yam became the second player in program history to earn All-NEC honors after placing third in the 200 fly (2:07.42). Griffith and sophomore Cat Coppler became the first Northeast Conference Swimmers of the Week after earning the honor for the first week of the 2010-11 season and then Griffith took home the honor again for the week of Nov. 9-15. As a team, the 253 points at the NEC Swimming & Diving Championships were the most in team history.

local product... Junior 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. The junior became the first player in program history to earn an All-Northeast Conference selection after finishing second in the 100 fly (56.06) in 2011. She also placed fourth in the 50 free (24.07) and seventh in the 100 free (52.59) last year.

new to the mountain... Head coach Neil Yost has added five newcomers to his 2011-12 roster. Sophomore Megan Ebert and freshmen Rebecca Kasda, Amanda Malmstrom, Erin Regan, Catherine Sukovich and Anne Thelen join the team this season.

about the coach... Neil Yost, who enters his seventh 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.