RESULTS: Full Results  |  Session I  | Session II  | Session III

EAST STROUDSBURG – Freshman Olivia Lukshides and junior Annie Fagan posted individual event victories, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team also touched the line first to help East Stroudsburg University finish second out of 12 competing teams at this weekend's Diamond City Invitational which concluded on Sunday afternoon.

The Warriors earned 554 points as a team and registered eight new PSAC-qualifying times at the two-day competition hosted by King's College. ESU's 554 points were 149 ahead of third-place Misericordia and 57 behind Arcadia in first.

Lukshides topped a field of 71 swimmers in the 100 free with a time of 53.67 which is the third-fastest in program history and only 0.49 behind the school record set by Karoline Vavra in 2013. The mark is over a second quicker than her previous PSAC-qualifying time of 55.02 in the event.

The Warriors had five place in the top 10 in the 100 free, including PSAC-qualifying performances by Fagan (fourth – 55.99) and senior Victoria Gurdak (fifth – 56.15). Senior Kelly Buyaskas took seventh (56.65) and freshman Dani Zimmerman was eighth (56.68).

Earlier in the meet, Lukshides placed second out of 49 in the 200 free after touching in at 1:58.46 to lower her sixth-fastest mark in school history. She also placed 10th in the 500 free (5:34.95) in the Invitational's opening session.

Fagan beat out 27 other competitors in the 100 butterfly with a PSAC qualifying time of 1:01.71, and Buyaskas added 12 points to ESU's team total with a seventh-place finish (1:04.74).

The Warriors' 400 free relay foursome of Fagan, Buyaskas, Gurdak and Lukshides completed the event in 3:39.52, over three seconds ahead of second-place Misericordia. That same group placed second in the meet-opening 200 free relay, and ESU had a group finish in the top five in all five contested relays.

Freshman Tarah Killane opened up the individual portion of the weekend with a PSAC time in the 500 free. She touched in at 5:25.66, registering the seventh-fastest mark in program history to finish fourth overall.

Buyaskas was the next PSAC qualifier, placing third out of 70 swimmers with a time of 25.68. ESU then had two swimmers qualify for PSACs in the 400 individual medley, as junior Allison Cardow finished third (4:52.51) and junior Kate Zimmerman followed in fourth (4:57.23). Cardow's time is the ninth-quickest in school history.

Zimmerman later competed in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, lowering her PSAC times in the former. She finished third out of 31 in the 100 breast (1:09.31) and fourth out of 22 in the 200 breast (2:33.86). Zimmerman also swam the 200 IM as an exhibition, posting the third-fastest time out of 32 swimmers (2:18.56).

ESU's final PSAC qualifier came in the last of 18 events, as senior Samantha Pelletier swam a PR time of 19:12.88 in the 1,650 free to place eighth overall. Killane competed in the race as well, finishing as the runner-up with a time of 18:30.34 which nearly matched the 18:30.07 she registered at LIU Post on Oct. 29.

Sophomore Meaghan Dwyer added a top-five performance for the Warriors in the 200 butterfly, taking fourth place after touching in at 2:35.24.

ESU is off next weekend before returning to the pool at the TCNJ Invitational, a three-day meet which will begin on Friday, December 2.