BY Laconia Citizen

Swimmers and divers on college teams do not worry about wins and loses at this time of the year. Instead, they focus on preparing for more important meets later in the season.

Bridgewater State College out-swam Plymouth State University last night, 161-111, in duel meet action at the PSU natatorium. It was the last meet of 2007 for both teams.

The Panthers were missing six key components to their team and went into the meet without any realistic expectations of beating the Bears. PSU was concentrating on improving times and getting stronger for next semester.

"Most of us were focusing on getting better in this meet," said Panther junior Christina Labriola, who finished 2nd in the 100-yard backstroke. "We were looking at improving our times and seeing what we need to work on next semester.

"Our goal is to get everyone back in tip-top shape and get our times down as far as possible," she added.

Bridgewater came into the meet undefeated (5-0) following a strong win over Gordon College on Tuesday and showed no signs of slowing down against the short-handed Panthers.

"All in all it was a great team effort by our kids," said Bridgewater head coach Brett Oteri. "We are also dealing with some injuries on our team so I was very happy with tonight's performance. There were some great races by both teams in this meet."

Plymouth State opened the meet on a positive note by taking the 200-yard medley in relatively easy fashion. Labriola combined with Lindsay Graham, Caitlin Little and Christina DiGiacomo to post a time of 2 minutes and 4.65 seconds, almost four seconds ahead of Bridgewater's first team.

"We swam the best we could tonight," said Panther head coach Al Switzer, who is in his 17th year at PSU. "A lot of our people who swam for us put up best times and overall I thought this was a good meet for us even though the score doesn't indicate it."

The Bears then took control of the meet by winning the next nine events. Following uncontested wins in the 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle, BSC's Erica Robinson out-dueled Labriola in the 100-yard backstroke and then Katrina Scholtz edged Plymouth's Graham in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Bridgewater State, led by Jennifer Jackson, took both the one-meter and three-meter diving events.

Graham, a freshman, captured the only individual race for the Panthers, winning the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:47.85. She also placed second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.54. Little finished second in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races, and senior Christina DiGiacomo was runner-up in the 200 and 500 free events.

"It was good to see Little swim well tonight because she is our top sprinter," said Switzer. "I thought DiGiacomo had a strong showing tonight also. Overall, our sick and injured were doing well and hopefully we can get them back strong for the second semester."

Plymouth State won the final event of the evening, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Trailing after the first leg of the relay, the Panthers' comeback was started by a strong second leg by Little, giving PSU a comfortable lead for the rest of the race.

The Panthers will now turn their attention toward training for the New England Championships, which begin on February 15th.

"Our goal is to be strong in the New Englands," said Switzer. "Last year we did real well in that meet and that is what we work for. My hope is that we can get back to that and do the same this year."

After a break for final exams and the holidays, PSU will return to action in January when it hosts Bentley on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 1 p.m.

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