This past weekend, the Ursuline Arrows swimming and diving team traveled to Altoona, Pennsylvania to take on the powerful Penn State - Altoona Nittany Lions and Bethany College of West Virginia. 

The Arrows went in knowing that this would be a great opportunity to have their swimmers try new events and experiment with relay line-ups against two established programs. Junior Kristina Valentic led the Arrows with a pair of second place finishes and a third place finish as well. 

Valentic turned in her best time of the season in the 200-yard individual medley,  finishing in 2:44.10, which is less than half a second off the team record currently held by teammate Danielle Szczypkowski. Valentic also anchored the 200-freestyle relay with a blistering 27.66 second performance, which was another personal best. 

Junior Betsy Edwards and freshman Kirsten Neal both competed in new events and showed great promise.  Edwards swam the 100-freestyle in 1:27.41, easily lowering her practice benchmarks, and Neal swam the 100-backstroke, turning in a respectable time of 1: 52.18. 

The Arrows now await their Winter Work-out Trip after the holiday break in Ft. Lauderdale, where they will train and compete at several outdoor venues. The next meet for the Arrows back home in Ohio will be on the road on January 14 against Urbana University.