HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Miami (OH) University upended the Marshall University women’s swimming and diving team on Friday by a final score of 149-127 at Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium. Miami’s star freshman Laura Armbruster won three individual events to lead the RedHawks to a 4-0 start in the Mid-American Conference.

Armbruster won the 400-yard individual medley (4:38.53), the 200-yard breaststroke (2:27.82) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.12). The North Royalton, Ohio, native was also a member of Miami’s winning 400-yard medley relay team with a time of 4:04.23.

Marshall received another superior performance from its own star freshman, Milla Kuurto (Lohja, Finland), who shaved nine-tenths of a second off of her own MAC season best time in the 100-yard butterfly (56.91 Saturday versus Ball State) to 56.01 on Friday. For the second consecutive meet, Kuurto won the same three individual events, the aforementioned 100 butterfly along with the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.98) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:53.35).

“This is really the first time that we have seen the fire and grit that Milla can bring to the table,” said Marshall Head Coach Leonard Kraus. “She didn’t like how close the 200 butterfly was, so she wanted to show what kind of fly she can swim once the 100 came around.”

Erika Nilsson (Haninge, Sweden) once again finished in first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:31.67. Elyse Beard (Conway, Ark.) touched the wall in second place in the event with a time of 10:54.31. Nilsson also earned a pair of second place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle with times of 54.61 and 5:12.61, respectively.

Miami (10-3, 4-0 MAC) remains in second place in the MAC and has a key match up scheduled on Feb. 1, versus the first place Ohio Bobcats in Oxford.

“Our performance tonight against a good Miami team, even in a losing cause, shows that our girls are giving all of their effort,” Kraus said, “and gives them the confidence that they can swim with anybody in the MAC.”

Herd diver Casey Mulholland (Stone Mountain, Ga.) produced two second place finishes in the diving events. Her score of 254.78 in the 3-meter portion was approximately 16 points behind Miami’s Christin Eberst’s score of 270.75. Eberst also won the 1-meter competition with a score of 251.10.

Emily Moe (Rockford, Mich.) continues to impress with her competitiveness in the breaststroke events. Moe collected two second place honors in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke races, while Liisa Raty (Espoo, Finland) swam the 200-yard backstroke in 2:14.55, which was good enough for second place.

The Thundering Herd’s 200-yard freestyle relay team was 1.35 seconds behind Miami’s winning team, which had a time of 1:39.50.

Marshall (4-5, 0-4 MAC) will play host to Radford University on Saturday at 2 p.m. The meet will end the Herd’s 2002-03 home campaign.

With back-to-back meets scheduled for Marshall, Kraus is concerned about his team’s lack of recovery time. “It’s going to be tough to come out tomorrow and not be flat, but we’ve got goals,” explained Kraus, “so we need to fight through and get it going early against Radford.”