Oct. 30, 2008

OXFORD, Ohio - Miami University's women's swimming and diving team makes a long weekend trek to Buffalo and Akron to open Mid-American Conference competition.

Coach Dave Jennings' RedHawks (2-1) swim at Buffalo on Friday (Oct. 31) at 5 p.m. and at Akron on Saturday (Nov. 1) at 1 p.m..

Led by junior Kasey Carpenter (Cincinnati), selected as the MAC's Swimmer of the Week for her performance against Xavier, the RedHawks are one of the league's top preseason picks. Conference coaches chose Miami to challenge favorite Ohio for the MAC title.

Senior Alyson Schmidt (Mainesville) could have easily been nominated as swimmer of the week, winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events against Purdue and coming close to her best performances of last year.

Freshman Kelsey Vehr (Cincinnati), sophomore Megan Brunn (Mansfield), and senior Paige Iversen (New Hope, PA) all had great efforts in the breaststroke events, while freshman freestyler JORDAN KELETIC (Matthews, NC) and freshman backstroker Anne Golembeski had their best times in those respective events.

"We feel we've started the season very well," said Jennings. "The team seems to be coming together as a unit. It was nice to defeat a Big Ten opponent. It has been almost 15 years since we've beaten Purdue."

Jennings says that his team's opening foe, Buffalo, will provide a great challenge this weekend.

"Coach Andy Bashor has done a great job of building Buffalo into a very solid program," he said.

--www.MURedHawks.com--