It may have been the last home competition for AU Swimming and Diving seniors, but it was women underclassmen who took home the victories as the Eagles placed second in a triangular meet on Friday at Reeves Aquatic Center.
First- and second-year women swimmers got four of AU's six first-place finishes as the men's and women's teams beat Howard but were topped by Old Dominion.
Sophomore Kaitlin Moughty headlined the women with two of their five victories, cracking the program's all-time top 10 times in the 50-yard freestyle (24.87 seconds) and 100-yard freestyle (53.96 seconds).
Freshman Erin Devlin won the 100-yard backstroke, and the freshman-sophomore squad of Devlin, Lori Burkett, Melinda Gilbert and Ashley McEntee won the 200-yard medley relay.
Senior Cami Miller took victory in the 400-yard individual medley.
The Monarchs won every event on the men's side except the 100-yard backstroke, which AU's Val Fomenko won by just more than a tenth of a second.
Will Linnoila, the lone senior for the men, finished third in the 500-yard freestyle in his final home performance. Miller's only senior teammate, Jamie Lambert, placed sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The bulk of the women's team's success this year has come from its newest swimmers, especially freshman Megan Thiel. The distance specialist, who had a pair of second-place finishes behind Old Dominion's top swimmer, already broke conference and school records. She smashed the AU mark in the 500-yard freestyle in her debut event and later broke the Patriot League time. She also holds AU records in the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle.
AU returns to the pool Feb. 12 when it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., for the Bison Invitational. It will head back to Bucknell two weeks later for the PL Championships. Miller, who won the 1,650-yard freestyle at last year's championships, is the Eagles' only returning title winner.
