COLLEGE PARK, Md. (11/17/06) – The Colgate women’s 200 freestyle relay team finished second at the Terrapin Cup to highlight the first day of competition of the three-day invitational, Thursday, Nov. 16. The Raiders enter the second day ranked ninth out of the 16 teams with 67 points.

The relay, which was composed of sophomores Beverly Walker (Marietta, Ga.), Lisa Marchi (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Emily Murphy (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Ashley Bottger (Weston, Conn.), finished the race in a time of 1:34.66, just 0.56 seconds off the Colgate and Patriot League record set by the Raiders last season. The relay from West Virginia won the race in 1:33.75, and Colgate beat out teams from Maryland, Navy, William and Mary, Kansas and Villanova.

CU’s 400 medley relay finished fifth in a time of 3:50.56, good for second all-time at the university. Walker’s backstroke split of 56.75 was the fastest of the race, and was just 0.03 seconds off her school record.

Four Raiders placed in the top-24 of the 50 free. Emily Murphy finished 13^th with a time of 23.98 after posting a personal-best time of 23.94 in the preliminary, which ranks fifth on Colgate’s top-10 performances list and second on the all-time performers ledger. Bottger placed 16^th, turning in a time of 24.30 after swimming a personal-best 23.96 in the preliminary, good for eighth on the all-time performances list. Walker was 17^th, winning the third finals heat in 23.95, which puts her in a tie for sixth all-time at Colgate. Marchi placed 21^st, posting a personal-best time of 24.18 in both the prelim and final, and moving her name up to fifth on the school’s all-time performers list.

Freshman Kate Murphy (Williamsburg, Va.) finished 20^th in the 500 free, posting a time of 5:01.11 in the evening session after swimming the race in 5:00.63 during the preliminaries. Her prelim time beat her previous personal-best by more than 12 seconds.

Competition resumes at 10:00 a.m., on Friday with preliminary events, and finals will start at 6:00 p.m.