Radnor, Pa. - The Marywood University swimming and diving teams fell to Cabrini University in the teams' first non-conference dual meet this past weekend as they faced Cabrini College. The meet proved to a preview for the Pacers, who will be joining the Atlantic East Conference in swimming and diving next year.  The Pacers' men and women had strong performances on both sides and several season-best swims.

Women:  Cabrini 113, Marywood 92

The women's competition proved to be a close one, even closer than the point score indicated. Things started off in a competitive fashion with the 400 Medley Relay. In the opening legs, the Pacers top relay of Julia Randolph, Maia Clasby, Mia Nardone, and Marycate Coyle fell behind, but a strong butterfly lleg by Nardone brought the Pacers right back into contention; however, Coyle was out-dualed by Lauren Finnegan, of the Cavaliers, on the final freestyle leg as the Pacers finished with a time of 4:24.64 to the Cavs' 4:21.24.

The first individual event of the night, the 1000 freestyle, proved to be the most exciting of the entire meet for both men and women.  Sophomore Christine Llewellyn started the race of with a slight lead over Marissa Loro.  Yet, as they approached the 500 mark, Loro began to pull even and then ahead. Llewellyn drew it back to even once again as they headed into the last 200 yards. In a event that does not often see close finishes, both benches were exploding with excitement. Llewellyn roared ahead in the closing laps to finish with a very convincing 11:59.96, almost four seconds ahead of Loro.  Freshman Emily Bubel took third with a 12:38.20.  Finally, junior Andrea Pannoni was also able to pull out a close race.  After trailing Cabrini's Ciara Thompson for the majority of the event, Pannoni was able to pull ahead and hang on in the last 50 yards to take fourth place in a time of 12:51.58.

The Pacers followed that up with strong performances by Coyle and Sara Fetter in the 200 Freestyle with times of 2:08.05 and 2:12.77, respectively, but Cabrini's Finnegan once again proved to be too much, taking the race in 2:02.25.  Clasby and Randolph also posted a solid two,three finish in the 200 IM with times of 2:26.10 and 2:26.81, but were bested by Tara McCloskey of Cabrini who posted a 2:22.11.

The Pacer women saw their next win in the 100 butterfly, where Nardone swam just as brilliantly as she did in the relay to take the event in 1:05.26.  Bubel and Seychelle Duckworth took third and fourth to draw the Pacers even closer to their competitors.  Though swimming a best time for the season in the 100 free of 57.67, Coyle was once again out touched at the finish, this time falling to Sarah Gudas by half of a second.

Nardone swung things in favor of Marywood for a second time, taking a close race in their favor.  Bouncing right back from the 100 fly a few minutes prior, Nardone took the 100 backstroke over Marisa Linsky 1:06.27 to 1:06.44.  Sam Truter and Panoni provided third and fifth place finishes to bolster the Pacers' efforts.

Llewellyn and Fetter had solid swims in the 500 freestyle posting season best times of 5:51.89 and 6:00.08 respectively, but Finnegan had another stellar race and took home the win with a 5:35.89.

Despite several close victories so far this season in the 100 breaststroke, Clasby was not able to pull off three in a row, falling to McCloskey 1:10.56 to 1:14.54.  The Pacers closed out the meet with a second place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:54.30.

Men: Cabrini 123, Marywood 72

The men started off the meet in a positive fashion, cruising to a convincing win in the 400 Medley Relay (Jarred Lubarsky, Nick Dubinski, Wesley Yancey, Blake Burlingame) with a time of 3:51.77 to their opponent's 4:04.03; however, the momentum quickly shifted in favor of the Cavaliers as they proceeded to finish first and second in the 1000 and 200 freestyle events.  

Burlingame set the Pacers back on track, swimming a season best time of 22.11 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle to take the victory.  After falling behind early in the 200 IM, Dubinski challenged for the lead in the breaststroke and freestyle legs.  However, Cabrini's Matthew Schaeffer still pulled out the victory 2:14.34 to 2:17.66.  

Like the women, the 100 fly would prove to be a point in favor of Pacers. The only Pacer in the event, Yancey was able to outdo all three of his Cavalier competitors to take the event in 57.12 seconds.  Burlingame and Schaeffer, both fresh off of victories for their respective teams, would duel it out in the 100 yard freestyle.  Despite going stroke for stroke, Schaeffer managed to barely get his hand on the wall first, topping Burlingame 50.00 to 50.39.  Lubarsky would also drop a close race in the 100 backstroke.  Despite topping Cabrini's Kurt Schueler by .40 seconds, he would fall to Luke McDevitt by .60 seconds.

Dubinski bounced back from IM to win convincingly in the 100 breastroke with a 1:03.71, almost six seconds ahead of his next closest competitor, but it would not be enough to draw the Pacers close.  The men finished off the meet with a third place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:42.10.

There was no diving contested at the meet.

The Pacers will join the Atlantic East Conference as a swimming and diving in 2019-20.

The Pacers get a few weeks off to prepare for their return to action on Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at the Bomber Invitational hosted by Ithaca College.