11/12/2006 - (Purchase, NY) - During five years of involvement with the Mount Saint Vincent Swimming program, Beth Clark has pretty much seen it all. As a competitor for four years and now during her first campaign as Head Coach, Clark has been a part of many highlighted moments, some tough losses, and a tradition of hard work and success for the Mount. But even for somebody as seasoned in Dolphins swimming as Clark, what happened on Friday night could have been a first. During one of the most wild swim meets in the history of the program, Mount Saint Vincent and Purchase College went back and forth for 14 events and even during the later stages of the final event, it was not clear who would win. Ultimately, Mount Saint Vincent prevailed 129-123 to remain undefeated.

With the win, the Dolphins are now 4-0 overall and 4-0 in Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) competition.

At no point did a team lead by more than eight points as the teams proved to be almost dead-even, and there were two different ties during the meet (36-36 & 80-80). After Purchase took a 91-88 lead with a first-place finish in the 100-IM, Mount Saint Vincent recaptured the lead, 102-96 after Andrea De La Torre (Valley Stream, NY/Mary Louis) took the 200-free in a time of 2:33.75. From there the disparity remained the same after the Mount captured second place and third place in the 50-fly, but Purchase regained the lead, 119-116 withh a win in the 100-breast.

The Panthers win in the 100-breast set up a showdown in the 200 free relay to determine the meet winner. Mount Saint Vincent pulled ahead for good with the top-two finishes in that event as the team of Marie Garcia (Medford, MA/Medford HS), Megan Clark (Silver Spring, MD/St. John's Prep), Kim Abbott, and De La Torre finished first in 206:63, while the team of Nicole DeSantis (Ossining, NY/Ossining HS), Angela Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney), Jillian Stark (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep), and Michelle Cabahug finished second in 212:78.

De La Torre had a huge day for the Mount with three total first place finishes, while Cabahug, Garcia, and Maggie McGowan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Savior) also captured first place finishes.

Mount Saint Vincent returns to action three times this week when they travel to Hunter College for a 7:00 p.m. meet on Wednesday, and then to Sarah Lawrence on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. showdown with the defending HVWAC Champions. On Saturday, the Mount travels to USMMA for the Skyline Conference Championships.