The Shippensburg University women's swimming team received additional stellar efforts from its two seniors Saturday and had two more improvements to Top-10 swims as it completed its weekend at the 2015 Patriot Invitational hosted by George Mason University inside the Jim McKay Natatorium.
 
Senior Carolyn Meier had two more Top-8 swims to complete her weekend, finishing sixth in the uniquely-contested 100-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:01.59 (she swam 1:01.57 in prelims) and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle with an 'A' finals time of 53.17 seconds after going 52.75 seconds in prelims. Meier had three Top-8 finishes this weekend, finishing fifth in the 200 freestyle on Friday, and she also took 13th place in the 50 freestyle back on Thursday.
 
Senior Rikki Sargent capped off a marvelous weekend with a splendid seventh-place swim of 2:22.02 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sargent also had three Top-8 finishes this weekend – taking fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday and fourth in the 200-yard IM on Thursday. Sargent holds the SU records in all three events. Her times in each event this weekend would have stood as new school records had she not produced even faster times in previous seasons during PSAC Championship competition.
 
Sophomore Nicole Martorella improved to fourth all-time at SU in the 200-yard breaststroke with a new personal best time of 2:25.26 that was achieved in the 'B' final – she placed 14th overall. Martorella entered the weekend sixth all-time in the event but surpassed Rachael Ballard (2011) and Stacey Noseda (1994) with the swim.
 
Freshman Carly Alvarado notched her second SU Top-10 time of the weekend in a backstroke event, swimming 2:10.79 in the 200-yard backstroke prelims and finishing 24th overall after a 'C' finals swim of 2:10.96. She now ranks ninth at SU all-time in the 200 backstroke and 10th in the 100 backstroke.
 
Freshman Tori Bingham and junior Sami Sabol also satisfied the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) standard in the 200-yard backstroke. Bingham swam 2:13.91 and Sabol completed her swim in 2:14.30.
 
Freshman Sidney Owens narrowly missed adding her name to SU's all-time Top 10 list for the 200-yard butterfly. She finished 23rd overall out of the 'C' final in 2:14.25 but swam 2:13.70 during her morning prelim swim. For the weekend, Owens produced a 2:09.32 time in the 200-yard IM that sits fifth in school history, and also cracked 10th in the 400 IM.
 
Owens and a whole host of other Raiders joined Meier in meeting the league-qualifying standard in the 100-yard freestyle. In her first 'C' final of the day, Owens swam 53.56 seconds in prelims and 53.92 seconds in the finals. Sophomores Nollaig Noll and Abbey O'Neal and freshman Lauren Ellis all broke 55 seconds as well.
 
Sophomore Jeanette Welch swam 55.38 seconds, while Sabol swam 55.61 seconds and junior Kaytee Garcia touched the wall in 55.99 seconds.
 
Ellis, meanwhile, got her PSAC qualifier out of the way in the 1,650-yard freestyle, posting a time of 18:41.24. The meet ended with Sargent, Meier, Noll and Owens completing the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:34.87.
 
After Thanksgiving, SU will head to Ithaca on December 4-6 for the 2015 Bomber Invitational.
 
100 IM
6. Carolyn Meier 1:01.59 (1:01.57p)
14. Nicole Martorella 1:04.39
 
200 Back
24. Carly Alvarado 2:10.96 (2:10.79p) (PSAC)
Tori Bingham 2:13.91 (PSAC)
Sami Sabol 2:14.30 (PSAC)
McKenzie Johnson 2:26.08
 
100 Free
7. Carolyn Meier 53.17 (52.75p) (PSAC)
23. Sidney Owens 53.92 (53.56p) (PSAC)
Nollaig Noll 54.36 (PSAC)
Abbey O'Neal 54.59 (PSAC)
Lauren Ellis 54.84 (PSAC)
Jeanette Welch 55.38 (PSAC)
Sami Sabol 55.61 (PSAC)
Kaytee Garcia 55.99 (PSAC)
Carly Alvarado 56.65
Kara Killion 59.14
Kadie Weaver 59.73
Alex Kryzan 1:03.18
 
200 Breast
7. Rikki Sargent 2:22.02 (PSAC)
14. Nicole Martorella 2:25.26 (PSAC)
Sarah Strause 2:36.98
Meaghan McGrath 3:18.45
 
200 Fly
23. Sidney Owens 2:14.25 (2:13.70p) (PSAC)
Kadie Weaver 2:40.08
 
1650 Free
20. Lauren Ellis 18:41.24 (PSAC)
 
400 Free Relay
10. Rikki Sargent, Carolyn Meier, Nollaig Noll, Sidney Owens 3:34.87
12. Lauren Ellis, Jeanette Welch, Sami Sabol, Abbey O'Neal 3:37.41