Franklin & Marshall Men, Kutztown Women Win Franklin & Marshall Invite

Franklin & Marshall's men's swimmers held a tenuous lead on Kutztown entering the third and final session of the 2008 Franklin & Marshall Invitational. By the end of the morning's six races, the Diplomats had seized control of the meet, and in the process, captured their own invitational for the first time in the meet's 11-year history. Kutztown took second.

"Our men really have not b roken training and several of the top competitors in this meet were rested and shaved," said F&M Coach, Bob Rueppel. "This is an outstanding indicator of how we will perform at our conference championships"

The Diplomats entered Sunday's session with a 25.5 point lead on Kutztown, and wasted little time in widening the gap, taking first place in the first half of the day's races, as well as the fifth race.

F&M found first place points in the 200-yard backstroke in which Matt Jaffee edged out Kutztown's Jack Crellin. Jaffee touched first at 1:55.18, .26 seconds ahead of Crellin. The Dips' David Fell contributed third place points, while Greg Mackinnon and Conor Finnegan added sixth and seventh place points, respectively. The bevy of points doubled the Diplomats lead.

Peter Fishler kept the momentum building winning the second race of the morning, the 100-yard freestyle. His 47.26 was the only time registered below the 48-second mark. Matt Wood threw in fourth place points, while J.P. Kelley scored tenth place points to keep the lead at 50 points.

Tom Grabiak extended the string of Diplomats wins to three, securing the 20 first place points in the 200-yard breaststroke. His 2:10.42 gave him nearly four seconds on Rowan's Jake Taylor. Three other F&M swimmers, Travis Catania, Scott Rownd and Carey O'Donnell, finished in the points for F&M.

Matt Woods, Grabiak, Jaffee and Fishler helped extend the F&M lead to 60 points entering the invite's final event. The F&M foursome swam a 3:12.40 to edge out Kutztown's entry at 3:13.79.

Mason Wash and Elliot Scymanski took third and fourth place in the 200-yard butterfly, respectively. Wash touched at 2:00.03, while Scymanski logged a 2:00.98. Kutztown managed second place points in the race on the strength of John Pandish's 1:59.59, while Rowan's Kevin Wallace took first at 1:58.42.

The Diplomats are idle through the holidays. F&M returns to the pool on January 24^th at Ursinus.

Franklin & Marshall's women placed second at their own invitational, which wrapped up Sunday morning. The Diplomats fended off Rowan to hold onto second place. Kutztown's women ran away with the meet, securing the meet championship with a 242.5-point cushion.

"I was very pleased with the second place finish and where we are as a team," said head coach, Bob Rueppel. "This is a good platform for us to improve upon heading into the conference championships in February."

Swimming their first collegiate miles, Olivia Hill and Garland Bartlett took second and fourth place, respectively. Hill logged an 18:16.89, while Bartlett clocked an 18:42.53.

Katherine DeCrosta, Meghan Karanian, Jennie Payne and Brittany McCabe combined for third place in the 400-yard free relay to bolster the women's effort in the final session of the invite. The Diplomats' foursome logged a 3:42.52 in the race, approximately two seconds off of the winning pace of 3:40.34 turned in by Kutztown.

McCabe fourth in 200-yard backstroke with a 2:11.12, while Karanian took fourth in the 100-yard freestyle with a 56.66.

Samantha Sweeney took fifth place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:35.38. Kutztown's Stephanie Jeppesen won the race with an NCAA Division II automatic qualifying mark of 2:21.86, giving her nearly 11 seconds on the rest of the field.  

Laura Bassford placed fifth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:18.67. St. Mary's Rachel Hotchko blew away the field with a 2:12.61.

The Diplomats are idle through the holidays, and will return to action at Ursinus on January 24^th.

Seahawks Finished Fourth at the F&M Invitational
The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swim team finished fourth at the two-day, nine-team Franklin & Marshall College Invitational as senior captain Brie McDowell (Doylestown, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) and junior Rachel Hotchko (Yakima, Wash./A.C. Davis) captured a combined total of five events and recorded three NCAA 'B' cuts between the three of them.

Session 1
The foursome of senior Brie McDowell (Doylestown, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham), junior Rachel Hotchko (Yakima, Wash./A.C. Davis), sophomore Arielle Webster (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford), and senior Eleanor Koerner (North Potomac, Md./T.S. Wootton) swam a 1:40.02 to capture the 200 free relay and pick up 40 points.

McDowell finished second in the 200 IM with her time of 2:12.28, while sophomore Sofia Sokolove (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) placed 12th in 2:21.80 as the pair added 17 points to the Seahawk total.

Koerner and Hotchko tied for fourth in the 50 free as both registered a time of 25.26, notching 29 points for St. Mary's.

McDowell , Sokolove , Hotchko , and Koerner came in second in the 400 medley relay in 4:03.12 for another 34 points.

The Seahawks were in fourth with 125 points after the first five events.

Session 2
McDowell, Sokolove, Hotchko, and Koerner picked up a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay with their time of 1:50.83 to add 34 points to their score.

Freshman Katie Serfling (Frederick, Md./Urbana) placed 15th in the 400 IM in 5:07.98.

Hotchko captured the 100 fly in 58.00, just .04 seconds off the school record set by Beth Dobson in 2006 (57.96).  Hotchko's time was also an NCAA provisional cut.  Junior Anna Chiplis (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) came in seventh in the same event in 1:03.43, while freshman Christine DiMenna (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) was 14th in 1:05.19. The Seahawks racked up 35 points in this event.

Sokolove took ninth in the 100 breast in 1:12.49, while freshman Amanda Pazouki (Silver Spring, Md./JFK) was 13th in 1:14.19 as the duo helped the Seahawks notch 13 more points.

McDowell won the 100 back with her NCAA 'B' cut of 58.54, while Koerner took 14th in 1:06.82 and the duo added 23 points.

In the last event of Session 2, the Seahawks tallied 28 points as senior Nat Schaefer (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North), junior Monika Disque (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis), junior Laura VanBlargan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), and freshman Katelyn Grue (Ellicott City, Md./Mount de Sales Academy) swam an 8:33.21 to finish fifth in the 800 free relay.

Through 12 events, the Seahawks remained in fourth place with 260 points.

Session 3
McDowell kicked off the third and final session with a first-place finish in the 200 back with an NCAA provisional cut of 2:08.91, while Disque came in 11th with her time of 2:20.62.  McDowell and Disque combined for 26 points in the event.

Koerner placed second in the 100 free in 55.10 to add 17 points to the Seahawk total.

Sokolove was ninth in the 200 breast with a time of 2:38.44, while Pazouki finished 10th in 2:39.27 to pick up 16 points for SMCM.

Hotchko captured the 200 fly with her time of 2:12.61, while Chiplis placed seventh in 2:21.70 and Serfling took 13th in 2:29.97 for a combined total of 36 points.

The foursome of McDowell, Hotchko, Disque, and Koerner swam a 3:40.43 to place second in the 400 free relay and rack up 34 points.

Schaefer wrapped up Seahawk competition with her eighth-place finish in the 1650 free as she swam a 19:07.44 for 11 points.

The Seahawks will be back in action in the New Year when St. Mary's heads down south for its winter training trip in Florida from January 6 to January 15.