Complete Meet Results
 
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The LIU women's swimming team kicked off the 2021 dual meet season in a big way Saturday. The Sharks, competing in a non-scoring meet against NEC rival Bryant, broke a pool record in the first event of the day. LIU also had a bevy of top finishes against the defending NEC champions, in a promising start to a shortened season.
 
Kicking the meet off, the 200 medley relay squad of Rea Shehu, Venna Andersen, Sara Rodriguez Rubio and Jacqueline Grabowski won the event in a time of 1:47.19, breaking a pool record. The previous record had been held by a squad from Wagner, with a time of 1:47.24. The strong start set a tone for LIU on the day.
 
Senior Jeanne Touchette-McGowan led LIU on the day, with three first-place finishes. She won the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:59.83, with sophomore Ella Johnson took second, in 2:00.24. Touchette-McGowan would also win the 200 breaststroke, with a time of 2:32.16, and the 200 IM in 2:14.77.
 
Sophomore Reyna Iwamoto had a sweep of the distance events, as won the 1000 free with a time of 10:59.74, and also won the 500 free by nearly four seconds, with a time of 5:24. 55.
 
Johnson had a win in the 200 butterfly in 2:12.19, ahead of Caitlyn Kanemitsu's second place time of 2:20.48. Freshman Venna Andersen also had two strong showings in the sprint frees, as she won the 100 free in 53.90, and took second in the 50 free in 25.01.
 
Grabowski won the 100 backstroke in 59.18, just ahead of teammate Shehu, who came in second in 59.49.Shehu would take a win in the 200 back, in 2:09.50, ahead of teammate Aidan Condit, who came in second in 2:10.51.
 
Freshman Ana Sali won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.15, just out-touching sophomore Caitlin Rappaport, who came in second in 1:11.82. Freshman Claire McFerrin completed the podium sweep, coming in third in 1:13.38.
 
LIU capped the meet taking the top spot in the 400 free, as Grabowski, Femke Backx, Shehu and Andersen beat Bryant narrowly, by just five hundredths of a second, in 3:40.68.
 
Complete meet results are available here.