CLARION, Pa. --- One week after their taper meet at the Zippy Invite, the Golden Eagles women's swimming & diving team hosted IUP in their final home dual of the season, with Clarion falling to the Crimson Hawks by a narrow 124-118 score at Tippin Natatorium.
 
The day had its share of emotions, as the Golden Eagles simultaneously waved good-bye to their seniors competing in their final home duals, while also welcoming back their alumni for a mid-meet recognition. That it was also the first meet after the team's four-day weekend in Akron, as well as the end of final exams week, was also not lost on head coach Bree Kelley.
 
"My expectation for this meet was just to race, have fun, and work on fine-tuning some things technically," Kelley said. "We still have a lot of work to do. I believe in consistency and repetition, and that doing things right time and time again breeds results, so we are working on tightening up our mechanics."
 
The Golden Eagles battled through the course of the meet, and finally pulled off a win in the third individual event of the day after IUP featured the top finishers in the 1000 Free and the 200 Free. Hannah Greenway, the reigning PSAC Women's Swimming Athlete of the Week, edged out Amber Baldani for first in the 50 Free, touching the wall in 24.57. Haley Miller tacked on a third-place finish in the event with a time of 25.92.
 
The proved to be the biggest swimming highlight of the day until the 500 Free, when Joslyn Jurski and Maria Wold pulled off a 1-2 finish to stack some points against the Crimson Hawks. Jurski placed first with a time of 5:31.76 while Wold rapped up in 5:33.45, and both of them had healthy margins over IUP's Kiera Scudder, who placed third. Maddy Murphy nearly caught her down the stretch as well, finishing just 0.56 seconds behind Scudder and taking fourth.
 
The Golden Eagles wrapped up the swimming events with a big win in the 200 Free Relay, with Miller, Madelynn McTeer, Jordan Kutchak and Greenway coming away with a convincing victory. That foursome finished the event in 1:40.30, more than three full seconds ahead of IUP's top finishing squad.
 
Highlights abounded in the diving well, though, as the Golden Eagles dominated the Crimson Hawks on the 1-Meter board to provide scads of team points. Alexa Gonczi won the 1-Meter Dive (Optionals) with a score of 234.55, and was followed closely by Anna Vogt (223.00) and Victoria Watkins (204.45). All three of those Golden Eagles came in ahead of the Crimson Hawks' top finishers. On the 1-Meter Dive (Voluntary), Vogt was the top finisher, scoring a 171.05, followed by Gonczi (165.15).