Nov. 4, 2006

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y - St. Bonaventure women's swimming and diving defeated Cleveland St. 171 - 53 on Saturday afternoon in its first home match of the season at Reilly Center pool.

The Bonaventure women earned gold in all 13 events including the one-meter and three-meter dive.

Freshman Kara Small and sophomore Keri Vito led the Bona women with two first place finishes each. Small surged past Cleveland State in the 200-backstroke (2:11.66) and the 200-Individual Medley (2:15.89) while Vito took the gold in the one-meter and three-meter diving events with scores of 252.08 and 266.70, respectively.

Starting off the match with the first win, freshman Allison Smith, sophomore Tracy Rathke and juniors Anneli Johnson and Jessica Hober raced past Cleveland St. during the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:41.69.

Smith and classmate Alexandra Manley earned the gold in their individual events as well in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.96) and the 50-yard freestyle (25.09), respectively.

Continuing the winning streak, sophomores Allison Whalen and Kate Cherry touched first in their individual events in the 200-butterfly (2:10.94) and the 1000-yard freestyle (10:59.75), respectively. Junior Meghan King placed first in an event for the first time this season; the 100-yard freestyle (54.05).

Classmates Taryn Ahern and Anneli Johnson also dominated in their individual events, the 500-yard freestyle (5:14.24) and the 200-breast (2:21.01), respectively, finishing at least 15 seconds before their teammates and Cleveland St. in each of the races.

The Bonnies didn't let up during the second relay and last race of the match, teaming with juniors Taryn Ahern, Meghan King and freshman Sabrina Keller and Allison Smith to win the 400-yard medley relay.

With the win, the Bonnies' record is 1-2.

The Bonaventure women swimmers and divers will compete again on Saturday, Nov. 11 against La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pa. at 12 p.m.