Marshall Women’s Swimming & Diving swam through the record books Saturday, Oct. 19, in their dual meet at Duquesne, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The meet was a knockout duel between Marshall and Duquesne, with Duquesne narrowly beating the Herd by three points with a concluding score of 180-177. 

In a post-meet interview with HerdZone, head coach Ian Walsh, who is in his sixth season and has been a part of 133 all time performances, had positive things to say about the dual meet.

“These are the kind of dual meets you want to be a part of,” Walsh said. ”Both teams pushed and elevated each other down to the final relay. I’m super proud of how our team responded throughout the meet and trusted their training, especially when we were down going into the last four events.” 

Despite the ultimate loss, the Herd still was able to feel accomplished and set records. 

“I think the meet went great,” freshman Kseniia Luniushina said. “We broke three pool records and had numerous season-best times. The score came down to the last relay, so it was an exciting meet.” 

The team first set the towers pool record Saturday in the 200 

freestyle relay with Parker Lynch, Madeline Hart, Audrey West and Luniushina coming together for a time of 1 minute and 33.72 seconds.

“I think we would attribute this to all the hard work we’ve been putting together these past few weeks,” Luniushina said. “We might have not won, but in our eyes, we did. We pushed ourselves and were there for each other and performed for the team.” 

The 500 freestyle was the next event the Herd pushed records in. Preslava Tosheva achieved a 4 minute and 56.57 seconds, which is the ninth fastest time in Marshall program history. 

Paige Banton won the 200 breaststroke in 2 minutes and 16.46 seconds while Madeline Hart was able to secure the win in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.79 seconds. Both Banton and Hart were also able to set records for the Herd. 

“Top to bottom, this team flat out competed, and I am really proud of our women,” Walsh said post-game. “We have two home meets in November to round out the fall before mid-season. Excited to get back into training and prepare for a tough home stand with Buffalo and JMU.” 

The Herd was able to break records and put themselves in a great spot to grow and build off their accomplishments. 

“The team was excited for the meet because it was a different style of meet,” Luniushina said. “We had walkouts with music for certain races. We also had 1v1 swims and 2v2 races. Our team came together and put down some incredible swims. We are at a great spot going into the rest of the season. Each team member is ready to build off of this weekend.” 

After this record-setting day for the team, it’s looking to get back to work in practice, so it can find continued growth and success against Buffalo on Nov. 1. 

“We want to keep pushing ourselves and breaking records with the end goal of winning the SBC Conference title. We have big goals but work towards them everyday at practice,” Luniushina said. 

Tariq Montgomery can be contacted at [email protected].