The Lindenwood synchronized swimming team got off to a great start on the 2011 season, taking second at the Lindenwood Invitational held Saturday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex. Lindenwood trailed only Canisius, while Miami (Ohio) finished third.

"I was really pleased with several of our performances today," said head coach Lori Eaton. "Two swimmers competing today joined us just 11 days ago, and they swam beautifully. I think we're headed on the right track and I'm looking forward to cleaning and refining our routines over the next few weeks as we get into the heart of our season."

Freshman Anouk Eman set the pace for the meet, winning gold in the "A Elements" technical event on Friday night with a score of 72.047. Freshman Reem Abdalazem took third with a 71.271, and junior Mikayla Francese came in fourth at 69.502.

"Elements are the fundamentals of our sport and to have two of our freshmen medal in the event, with our U.S. National Team member in fourth, is a great achievement," Eaton said. "It demonstrates that we're attracting the best caliber athletes in collegiate synchro to our program."

Saturday's lead event got the crowd jumping, with the Lindenwood trio of Victoria Burdon, Stewart Shoemaker, and Jessica Webb performing to a mix of the Black Eyed Peas and earning a fourth-place finish. The Lady Lions' Eman, Francese, and Abdalazem took second with a score of 79.833.

In the closest event of the afternoon, Eman and Francese tied for silver in duet with a score of 77.833, followed by Burdon and Beth Burton in fourth at 77.500.

Lindenwood's "Australia" routine finished with the silver, at 85.000. Swimming for the Lions were Burdon, Burton, Eman, Francese, Clarissa Johnston, Jessica Webb, Amanda Mendez, and Abdalazem. Lindenwood's "China" routine took third at 78.167, and was performed by Abigail Andresen, Federica Bertolini, Julia Birkelo, Rachel McWhorter, Simona Placha, Brynn Sebring, Stewart Shoemaker, and Carmen Salazar.

"Overall, I was pleased, not only with how we swam at our first event, but also how our team has come together over the past few weeks to prepare mentally and physically for this meet," Eaton said. "We've been so rushed to get to this point and to bring our new swimmers up to speed that we didn't even swim our full routines. We can only improve from here."

Complete Results:

A Elements
1, Anouk Eman, LU, 72.047.
2, Svetlana Ponkratova, CC, 71.769
3, Reem Abdalazem, LU, 71.271
4, Mikayla Francese, LU, 69.502

Solo
1, Svetlana Ponkratova, CC, 87.167
2, Reem Abdalazem, LU, 84.000
3, Bethany Burton, LU, 81.333

Duet
1, Svetlana Ponkratova, Victoria Mintz, CC, 83.000
2, Anouk Eman, Mikayla Francese, LU, 77.833
2, Melissa Andrews, Jessia Mancini, CC, 77.833
4, Victoria Burdon, Bethany Burton, LU, 77.500

Trio
1, Svetlana Ponkratova, Victoria Mintz, Laurie Wakelam, CC, 80.333
2, Anouk Eman, Mikayla Francese, Reem Abdalezem, LU, 79.833
3, Melissa Andrews, Jessica Mancini, Morgan Lebrecht, CC, 77.833
4, Victoria Burdon, Stewart Shoemaker, Jessica Webb, LU, 76.500

Team
1, Canisius College, 86.333
2, Lindenwood University A, 85.000
3, Lindenwood University B, 78.167
4, Miami University, 56.500