Red Flash Swimmers Drop Home Meet Against Duquesne

LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 1, 2007) – Senior Stefanie Hozempa (Horseheads, N.Y. / Horseheads), and sophomores Blair Kosela (Cresent, Pa. / Moon Area) and Kristen Low (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada / Cawthra Park S.S.), all won individual events, but the Saint Francis swim team was a bit overmatched in a 104-96 defeat against Duquesne on Thursday night at the Stokes Natatorium.

Low won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4 minutes, 45.23 seconds to score nine team points. Kosela, who was named the Northeast Conference swimmer of the week on Tuesday, won the 100 freestyle in 54.39 seconds. Hozempa, who had just finished third in the 500 freestyle, then won the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.77.

The Red Flash 200 medley relay team of sophomore Elise Merrill (Carlisle, Pa. / Big Spring), sophomore Elyse Peterman (Lock Haven, Pa. / Central Mountain), freshman Elyse Dobrick (Zelienople, Pa.) and Kosela opened up the dual by finishing second, just 1.45 seconds behind Duquesne’s pool-record time of 1:51.61.

Juniors Cara Morgan (Lancaster, Pa. / Hempfield) and Kaitlin MacDonald (Olney, Md. / Academy of the Holy Cross) finished second and third in the 1650 freestyle with times of 18:27.33 and 18:32.32, respectively.

Freshman Melissa Heintz (Boyertown, Pa.) finished second in the 200 freestyle in 2:00.90, Merrill then took second in the 100 backstroke (1:02.27).

The Red Flash will now be idle until they travel to Mount St. Mary’s for a dual at 2 p.m. on Nov. 10.