Belles Move Up to Eighth at Winter Invitational

Preliminaries - Finals

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Saint Mary's swim team moved up to eighth place after the second day of the Calvin Winter Invitational on Friday.

Grand Valley State extended their lead at the three-day event while fellow Division II members University of Indianapolis and Northern Michigan University moved into second and third place, respectively.

Individually for the Belles, Audrey Dalrymple and Genevieve Spittler earned points for the squad on Friday. Dalrymple earned her way into the championship final of the 100 breaststroke by less than two-tenths of a second. In the evening final, the senior cut 15-hundredths of a second off her time from the morning for a 1:07.04 and seventh place. The time was less than seven-tenths of a second away from an NCAA B cut time (1:06.38). Spittler earned a spot in the consolation final of the 200 butterfly and finished 16th in the event with a time of 2:33.16.

The Belles' 200 free relay of Megan Price, Audrey Dalrymple, Katie Donovan, and Anna Nolan also finished 16th in their event with a 1:45.16 - better than a full second faster than their seeded time of 1:46.52. The 400 medley relay of Nolan, Dalrymple, Kristyn Gerbeth, and Megan Price finished 18th in 4:17.40 to also earn points for the Belles.

Anna Nolan, meanwhile, competed in the bonus consolation of the 100 backstroke and finished 23rd in a time of 1:06.25.

The final day of the three-day event will begin tomorrow morning with the preliminaries beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Saint Mary's Results
200 fly: Genevieve Spittler (16th - 2:33.16)
200 free: Megan Price (24th - 2:01.64); Katie Donovan (40th - 2:07.84); Sarah Thompson (50th - 2:13.23); Liz Palmer (53rd - 2:14.74)
100 breaststroke: Audrey Dalrymple (7th - 1:07.04); Alex Kane (32nd - 1:18.29); Julianne Divine (33rd - 1:20.01); Liz Litke (34th - 1:21.10)
100 back: Anna Nolan (23rd - 1:06.25); Genevieve Spittler (27th - 1:09.54)
50 free: Anna Nolan (36th - 26.57); Sarah Thompson (40th - 26.75); Kristyn Gerbeth (t-41st - 26.87)
400 medley relay: Nolan, Dalrymple, Gerbeth, Price (18th - 4:17.40)