March 13, 2008

(Columbia, Missouri): Clarion's 400 medley relay team finished 7th, highlighting the second day of competition for the Golden Eagles in the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships in Columbia, Missouri.

Held at the "Mizzou Aquatic Center", the Clarion Women's team is currently in 8th place in team scoring at the tournament's mid-point. Truman State leads with 226, Drury is second with 225, North Dakota third with 165 and Cal San Diego fourth with 151.Clarion is eighth with 100 points and West Chester is eleventh with 84.

The 400 medley relay team of Lori Leitzinger (Sr. State College), Kelly Connolly (Fr. Cranberry Twp. - Seneca Valley), Kaitlyn Johnson (Fr. Uniontown) and Gina Mattucci (Fr. Jeannette - Penn Trafford) finished 7th with a time of 3:53.39.

In other women's scoring on Thursday, the 200 free relay team of Johnson, Jamie Maloney (So. So. York), Mattucci and Connolly finished 13th with a time of 1:37.40. Johnson, meanwhile, placed 13th in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 57.67.

The action continues with finals on Friday and concludes on Saturday night.

CLARION NOTES: The women's 1 meter is on Friday and Clarion's Teagan Riggs, who won the 3 meter at nationals on Wednesday, is hoping to be in a battle with teammate Ginny Saras for top honors on Friday night ...Riggs was fourth last year at nationals, and Saras was 2nd on 1 meter.