EVENT: Mount St. Mary's at Radford Invitational
WHEN: Thu-Sat, Nov. 18-20, 2010
WHERE: Radford, Va.

opening dive... The Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team heads to the Radford Invitational starting on Thursday. It marks the second-straight season the Mount will compete in the Highlanders three-day event.

last time at that event... Jeanne Marie Benedetti finished eighth in the 1650 free to lead the Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team to a sixth-place standing at the Highlanders Invitational on Nov. 21, 2009. Benedetti posted a time of 18:59.11 in the 1650 free to notch one of the Mount's two individual Top-10 finishes on the afternoon. Courtney Griffith posted a 10th-place finish in the 100 free (54.95). Paige Chenet, Griffith, Courtney Gaddi and Benedetti teamed up to finish sixth in the 400-free relay (3:45.37). Maggie O'Connell Dubois placed 11th in the 200 fly while Mary Beth Kasda was 12th in the 200 breast (2:41.35). Gaddi placed 14th in the 100 free (56.35) and Heather Kurtzman finished 14th in the 200 back (2:21.54). Alyssa Cummin, Molly Kristiniak, Samantha Katafiasz and Kate Ansman finished 13th in the 400-free relay (4:13.50).

last time out... Cat Coppler won two individual events to lead the Mount St. Mary's women's swimming team to a 148-117 win against Howard on Saturday in Baltimore. Loyola downed the Mount, 160-120. The Mountaineers improved to 8-2 on the year. Coppler, who has started her collegiate career by winning her first eight individual events, continued her success on Saturday with a first-place finishes in the 50 free (25.37) and in the 200 IM (2:17.53). The freshman also swam the opening leg of the winning 200-free relay (1:42.09) and the final leg of the third place 400-medley relay (4:15.83). Courtney Griffith took over for Coppler in the 200-free relay before Mollie Walsh and Joanna Hale completed the relay victory. Walsh, Molly Kristianiak and Patricia Yam swam the first three legs of the 400-medley relay. Griffith also won the 100 fly (59.75) and finished second in both the 200 free (1:59.36) and the 100 free (54.36). Yam posted a first-place standing in the 200 fly (2:10.24) while finishing second in the 200 IM (2:18.45) and third in the 200 back (2:18.44). Victoria Shaw notched the Mount's first victory of the afternoon after taking first in the 1000 free (11:49.46). Along with being a member of the winning 200-free relay, Walsh finished second in the 100 back (1:03.89) and second in the 200 back (2:16.95). Hale finished third in the 500 free (5:46.65) and Emily Dargay was third in the 1000 free (13:22.09).

next time in the water... Mount St. Mary's returns home to host Radford on Dec. 4.

conference honors... Cat Coppler and Courtney Griffith were named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Swimmers of the Week for the first week of the season. It was their first career weekly conference honor. The duo paced the Mount to five relay victories and one second-place finish at the Bloomsburg Relays on Saturday. The Mountaineers won the 300-fly relay (3:02.46), the 800-free relay (8:18.67), the 200-free relay (1:43.82), the 400-free relay (3:45.67) and the 500-free crescendo relay (5:01.80) while finishing second in the 4x100 IM (4:26.88). Coppler made the most of her collegiate debut swimming the opening leg in the 300-fly relay, the 800-free relay the 200-free relay, the 400-free relay and the 4x100 IM relay while anchoring the winning 500-free crescendo relay. Griffith, a sophomore, swam the second leg of the 300-fly relay and the 800-free relay before swimming the third leg of the 200-free relay, the 400-free relay, the 500-free crescendo relay and 4x100 relay. It marked the first time in the five-year program history of the women's swimming team that a Mount swimmer has been honored with the top conference swimming weekly award.

conference honors again for griffith... Courtney Griffith was named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Swimmers of the Week for the week of Nov. 9-15. It is the sophomore's second NEC weekly award after sharing the honor with teammate Cat Coppler (Enfield, Conn./Enrico Fermi) for the first week of the season. Griffith broke four team records in a tri meet against Loyola and Howard on Saturday. The sophomore won the 100 fly (59.76) and finished second in the 100 free (54.36) and the 200 free (1:59.36). The Westminster, Md., native also swam the second leg of the winning 200-free relay (1:42.09). The Mountaineers defeated Howard 148-117 while Mount St. Mary's fell to Loyola 160-120. It marked the second time this season the Mount has earned the NEC Swimmer of the Week honor after not earning the award in the first four years in program history.

home pool advantage in 2010-11... Mount St. Mary's will host three days of competition this season, all before the end of the 2010 calendar year. The squad hosted Manhattan, Saint Peter's and VMI on Oct. 29 and 30 before welcoming Radford to Emmitsburg on Dec. 4. The Mount holds a 7-5 mark at home, including a 4-1 record in 2008-09 and a 3-1 standing in 2007-08.

about the team... Head coach Neil Yost's 2010-11 team is comprised of one senior (Murphy Alafoginis), three juniors (Courtney Gaddi, Molly Kristiniak and Chelsea Marrocco), two sophomores (Alyssa Cummin and Courtney Griffith) and eight freshman (Jess Boegner, Cat Coppler, Emily Dargay, Jessica Gardner, Joanna Hale, Victoria Shaw, Mollie Walsh and Patricia Yam).

local product... Sophomore Courtney Griffith hails from Westminster, Md. A graduate of Westminster High School, the sophomore was a member of the Eagles Club at McDonough High School for four years. Griffith finished ninth in the 100 back in the NEC Championships last year.

new to the mountain... Head coach Neil Yost has added nine newcomers to his 2010-11 roster. Senior Murphy Alafoginis and freshmen Jess Boegner, Cat Coppler, Emily Dargay, Jessica Gardner, Joanna Hale, Victoria Shaw, Mollie Walsh and Patricia Yam all joined the swimming program this season.

gaddi goes up against atupem... In a new feature on the Mount website, juniors Courtney Gaddi and Molly Kristiniak took part in an episode of Up Against Atupem. Host Shawn Atupem interviews the duo and then took on Gaddi in a 50-meter swim. Click here to view the episode.

about the coach... Neil Yost, who enters his sixth season, became the first head coach in program history. Yost came to the Mount with nine years of coaching experience. Since 2002, Yost was the men's and women's swimming coach at Waynesboro High School. He also served as the head swimming coach and aquatics director at the Waynesboro Area YMCA. Before coaching at Waynesboro High School he was the aquatics director at the Westport/Weston YMCA from 2001-02. He was also the assistant swimming coach at Bloomsburg University and the head coach at the Central Columbia Aquatics Club for two years after serving as an assistant coach for two years. Yost started his coaching career as an assistant coach at the Central Columbia Aquatics High School from 1996-2000.