Senior Julie Brown won the 50-yard freestyle on Saturday afternoon with a PSAC-qualifying time of 24.64 as the Shippensburg University women's swimming team opened its season this weekend in a tri-meet against host Southern Connecticut State and West Chester.

Despite the host Owls and West Chester factoring diving results into their team scoring, the Raiders managed to defeat SCSU by a 184-172 margin. SU lost its matchup with the PSAC rival Golden Rams, 221-118.

"On a scale of 1-10, we were about a 7 this weekend," head coach Tim Verge '89 said. "A lot of people are ahead of where they were last year at this time, and it was a good barometer to get out and race."

Brown also finished first among the scored competitors in the 100-yard butterfly on Saturday, recording a time of 1:02.87. Brown added another PSAC cut in the 100-yard freestyle with a 54.50, good for third in the event.

On Friday night, the Raiders won the 200-yard freestyle relay with an impressive time of 1:40.30 by sophomore Rikki Sargent, Brown, freshman Abbey O'Neal and sophomore Carolyn Meier.

Meier finished the weekend with two second-place finishes, with the first coming in the 100-yard freestyle on Friday with a PSAC-qualifying time of 54.40 and the second coming on Saturday with a 1:58.14 in the 200-yard freestyle for her second PSAC cut of the weekend.

On Saturday, junior Jess Trgovic finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:58.14 while senior Colleen Stiles finished third in 2:17.59.

Sargent added a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke on Saturday with a 2:33.16 and was first among the scored competitors in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:17.31.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of O'Neal, Brown, junior Jen Flinchbaugh and Meier won the event on Saturday with a time of 3:43.14.

Friday Results

400 Medley Relay
2. Jess Trgovic, Rikki Sargent, Rebecca Burke, Julie Brown 4:11.66

100 Free
2. Carolyn Meier 54.40 (PSAC) 
3. Julie Brown 54.50 (PSAC)

200 Free Relay
1. Rikki Sargent, Julie Brown, Abbey O'Neal, Carolyn Meier 1:40.30  
5. Sami Sabol, Chelsey Michael, Jen Flinchbaugh, Devon Perugini 1:47.94

800 Free Relay
3. Rikki Sargent, Jillian Stevens, Carolyn Meier, Julie Brown 8:14.09
5. Colleen Stiles, Tara Yohe, Kate Diltz, Abbie Brumback 9:01.79

Saturday Results

50 Free
1. Julie Brown 24.64 (PSAC)

100 Fly
1. Julie Brown 1:02.87

200 Free
2. Carolyn Meier 1:58.14 (PSAC)   

200 Back
2. Jess Trgovic 2:16.81   
3. Colleen Stiles 2:17.59

200 Breast
3. Rikki Sargent 2:33.16

200 Medley Relay
3. Jess Trgovic, Rikki Sargent, Rebecca Burke, Carolyn Meier 1:56.85

200 IM
1. Rikki Sargent 2:17.31
3. Jess Trgovic 2:23.60 

400 Free Relay
1. Abbey O'Neal, Julie Brown, Jen Flinchbaugh, Carolyn Meier 3:43.14
4. Kate Diltz, Abbie Brumback, Devon Perugini, Colleen Stiles 4:08.55