Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. (November 3, 2006)- Megan O'Keefe, Catherine Chan, and Courtney Arduini each won multiple events to propel Manhattan Women's Swimming to its best start in program history as the Lady Jaspers moved to 6-0 on the season with a 114-90 victory over St. Francis College on Friday evening.
Swimming the third leg of the 200 Medley Relay, O'Keefe helped Manhattan to victory in the meet's opening event. The sophomore from Pearl River, N.Y. then went on to win both the 200 Freestyle with a time of 2:04.21 and the 100 Butterfly by clocking in at 1:01.94. Finishing second to O'Keefe in the 200 Freestyle was junior Maura McGowan who would save her best effort of the meet for the final event.
McGowan put an exclamation point on the win with her performance in the meet's final event, the 200 Freestyle Relay. With Manhattan trailing by a little less than ten yards entering the final leg of the relay, McGowan out swam the St. Francis anchor to touch in for the victory.
"Maura did a tremendous job in making up a considerable distance against one of St. Francis' better swimmers," said head coach Walter Olsewski. "Maura and the rest of the ladies do not like to lose at all and they showed that today."
Freshman Catherine Chan was also part of the relay victory. Earlier in the meet, Chan managed to capture first place in both the 50 Freestyle (26.02s) and the 100 Freestyle (58.20).
Senior Courtney Arduini joined O'Keefe and Chan in winning two individual events on the evening. Arduini took first in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:27.39, and later won the 100 Backstroke by clocking in at 1:07.46.
Dating back to last season's finale, a win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Manhattan has now won its last seven contests to set a new program record. The Lady Jaspers will put that streak on the line tomorrow afternoon when they host Sacred Heart University and the University of Bridgeport.