Swimming and Diving to Open Season at Miami Ohio

Herd to face tough opening test from Redhawks

Oct. 5, 2007

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - The Marshall swimming and diving team will open the 2007-08 season on the road Saturday with a duel match against Mid-American Conference rival Miami Ohio, in Oxford, Ohio at 1 p.m.

"We're excited to get the season started," Marshall head coach Leonard Kraus said. "We've been training really hard and it will be fun to finally test ourselves against live competition."

Saturday's meet will be slightly out of the ordinary as the teams will face off in long course competition with distances measured in meters rather than yards.

The Herd is coming off of its best performance at the Conference USA Championships as it scored 381.5 points to close out the 2007 campaign.

Marshall returns it top performer in nearly every event, including 2007 record setters Lauren Goodwin and Michaela Sceli. Sceli, a senior from Ontario, Canada, has set records in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke in both of her first two seasons with the Herd.

On the diving side, Marshall returns its top two competitors from 2007 in Siobahn Shuurman and Rachel Hannum. Shuurman set a record in the platform dive last season and ranks second in school history in the one and three-meter dives.

Miami comes off a 12-0 2006-07 season and its sixth consecutive season with an undefeated MAC dual meet record (7-0). The RedHawks return 19 letterwinners from a year ago, including four All-MAC performers

"Obviously, Miami has a very strong squad every year and they should let us know where we're at as a team," Kraus said. "I really just want the girls be relaxed and focused and enjoy the meet."