DAVENPORT, Iowa—Augustana opened the 2019-20 season Friday night with a dual meet versus St. Ambrose at Davenport North High School. The Vikings picked up the victory by a score of 127-109.
 
Sophomore Madelynn Marunde (Belvidere North HS, Belvidere, Ill.) won two individual events and swam on a winning relay for the Vikings. She claimed the 1000-yard freestyle in 11:10.55 and the 500 free in 5:29.78 and handled the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay, which won in 1:51.74. She was joined in that foursome by classmates Aviana Zahara (Pleasant Valley HS, Moline, Ill.) and Isabelle Seten (Centennial HS, Champaign, Ill.) and freshman Dominique Valentine (Walnut Hills HS, Cincinnati, Ohio). Zahara swam the lead backstroke leg, Valentine the third-leg butterfly and Seten the anchor freestyle.
 
Other individual winners for Coach Dan Lloyd included Seten (:25.32) in the 50 free, Zahara (1:00.96) in the 100 backstroke, Valentine (1:03.11) in the 100 fly and freshman Megan Frost (McHenry HS, Lakemoor, Ill.) (:57.12) in the 100 free.
 
Augustana also captured the 200 freestyle relay in 1:42.68. Zahara led off, followed by senior Gabrielle Ainsworth (Hononegah HS, South Beloit, Ill.) and sophomore Alicia Garcia (Seminole HS, Lake Mary, Fla.), with Seten anchoring.
 
Ainsworth and sophomore Lauren Raike (Alamo Heights HS, San Antonio, Texas) each logged a pair of second-place finishes. Ainsworth's came in the 200 individual medley (2:23.89) and 100 fly (1:03.25), while Raike swam a 2:05.24 in the 200 free and a 1:13.84 in the 100 breaststroke. Other second-place efforts for the Vikings included Frost's :26.28 in the 50 free, Garcia's :58.06 in the 100 free, freshman Maddie McFarland's (Barrington HS, Tower Lakes, Ill.) 1:03.83 in the 100 backstroke and classmate Mary Emory's (West Aurora HS, Aurora, Ill.) score of 145.65 in the three-meter diving competition.
 
Emory totaled 154.10 to place third at one meter. McFarland, Garcia and Valentine added third-place finishes in the 1000 (11:49.82), 200 (2:06.50) and 50 (:26.43) freestyles, respectively.
 
Lloyd commented, "With only two weeks of training and going up against a team that had over six weeks of training, we swam amazing. The races were about heart and mind over matter since we are not fully in shape. We stepped up and raced and showed how mentally tough this team truly is. I couldn't be more proud."
 
On Saturday, October 26, Augustana will host a double-dual versus Millikin and Knox at the Carver Center Pool beginning at 1:00 p.m.