KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Jan. 31, 2015) – The Drew University men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed in a Landmark Conference tri meet against host The United States Merchant Marine Academy and Goucher College on Saturday afternoon, the final competition before the Landmark Conference Championships on Feb. 13-15.
 
The women lost a heartbreaking 56-49 decision to Goucher and dropped an 81-31 decision to Merchant Marine. The men were defeated by Merchant Marine, 74-31, and fell to Goucher, 75-20.
 
The women's tight battle against the Gophers received a boost in Drew's favor after the meet opening 200-yard medley relay. The team of junior Kristin Zeigler, sophomores Jordan Jessup and Lindsay Pearce, and freshman anchor Jenny Stein finished in second place behind Merchant Marine in 2:03.18. Goucher would respond by taking first place in the next event, the 1000-yard freestyle.
 
Drew fought right back with Jessup leading the charge in the 200-yard freestyle. The versatile sophomore turned in a season-best 2:04.60 and was first to the wall ahead of her USMMA and Goucher opponents.
 
For the first time in program history, the Drew diving team recorded points in competition. Stein was scored at 208.20 points in the one-meter diving event, good for third place points. Later in the three-meter dive, Stein again placed third with a score of 213.53 to officially set the bar for Drew diving in collegiate competition.
 
Jessup capped one of her most successful meets of the season with a second place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, her specialty on the Rangers' medley relay team. Jessup's 1:05.71 was her best of the season at that distance, and the second fastest by a Drew swimmer this winter.
 
On the men's side, sophomore Logan Amodio is headed in the right direction in one of his events heading into the Landmark Championships. He placed third in 200-yard individual medley with a season-best time of 2:10.79. He also finished third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.54, another season-best and only three-tenths of a second behind the second place Goucher finisher.
 
Sophomore Bobby DeMarco turned in his best 100-yard backstroke of the season at 1:05.77 and finished in fourth place.
 
The 2015 Landmark Conference Championships take place at the Germantown Swim Center in Germantown, Md on Feb. 13-15. In the eighth year of competition, this year marks the first time the conference will host the event at a neutral site. The first four championships were hosted by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and have been at Marywood University the last three years.
 
The championship website is live with information regarding tickets, hotels, t-shirts, and more.