Women's Swimming Dives Back In The Pool At Duquesne On Saturday

EVENT: Mount St. Mary's at Duquesne
WHEN: Sat, Jan. 21, 2012, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Towers Pool, Pittsburgh, Pa.

opening dive... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming will travel to Duquesne to battle the Dukes for the first time in a dual meet.

last time out… Cat Coppler posted three top seven finishes to lead the Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team to a third-place standing at the Citrus Invitational on Jan. 7. Coppler finished second in the 100 back (1:00.60) for the squad's only top-three standing on the afternoon. The sophomore also finished seventh in the 400 IM (4:46.01) and seventh in the 50 free (25.45). Courtney Griffith posted a pair of top-six finishes after placing fifth in the 100 fly (59.86) and sixth in the 100 free (54.89). Patricia Yam also had two top-seven standings, placing fifth in the 200 fly (2:11.45) and seventh in the 200 back (2:12.91). Murphy Alafoginis (20:41.09) and Emily Dargay (22:30.21) finished 6-7 in the 1650 free while Amanda Malmstrom placed eighth in the 200 fly (2:30.80). Erin Regan picked up team points in the 500 free (10th place, 5:33.69) and the 200 free (12th place, 2:02.96) while fellow freshman Rebecca Kasda earned points in the 100 back (11th place, 1:13.00) and the 200 back (15th place, 2:38.21) and freshman Anne Thelen grabbed team points in the 100 breast (15th place, 1:16.91) and 200 breast (12th place, 2:49.56). Catherine Sukovich and Molly Kristiniak also earned points for the team in two events after Sukovich notched points in the 500 free (13th place, 6:14.43) and the 50 free (15th place, 27.30) and Kristiniak in the 200 breast (13th place, 2:52.00) and the 100 breast (20th place, 1:20.60). Victoria Shaw in the 200 free (22nd place, 2:12.93) and Mollie Walsh in the 100 fly (14th place, 1:03.00) also picked up points for the Mountaineers. In the 400-medley relay, Griffith, Thelan, Walsh and Malmstrom teamed up to place fourth (4:18.14) while Kasda, Kristiniak, Shaw and Jessica Gardner finished seventh in the event (4:51.29). Regan, Malmstrom, Yam and Walsh placed fourth in the 400-free (3:50.86) and Sukovich, Alafoginis, Gardner and Nicole Helmick was seventh in the relay (4:13.25).

next time in the water... The Mount returns home to host Loyola on Feb. 4 for the squad's final home meet of the year. Meet starts at 1 p.m. and can be seen on www.mountathletics.tv.

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. After broadcasting three events in the first semester, the Mount has more swimming stream on Feb. 4 against Loyola. 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.