Grove City Edges Westminster for PAC Title

The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team successfully defended its Presidents' Athletic Conference title Saturday night by winning the team title at the 19th Grove City College Invitational/PAC Championships. The Wolverines accumulated 949 team points to earn the title.

The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team earned its first Presidents' Athletic Conference title since 1999 Saturday night by winning the 19th Grove City Invitational/PAC Championships. The Wolverines accumulated 833.5 team points to out-distance Westminster (759.5) and Washington & Jefferson (735).

Wolverines Repeat As Conference Kingpin
Three Grove City performers earned wins Saturday night. Freshman Josh Kim (Frederick, Md./New Life Christian) won the 1650 in a school-record time of 16 minutes, 19.70 seconds. Kim also provisionally qualifies for the NCAA Championships with that effort.

Senior Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) won the 100 free in a Grove City-record time of 44.40 seconds, which automatically qualifies him for the NCAA Championships. He edged senior teammate Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown), who took second with an NCAA-qualifying time of 44.82.

In 3-meter diving, junior Kyle Grubbs (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) took top honors by earning 386.25 points on the high board.

Sophomore Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) earned second in the 200 backstroke by posting an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:54.39. Freshman Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) earned second in the 200 butterfly with an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:54.10.

Kim captured third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:57.21 while senior Peter Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist) took third in the 100 free with a provisionally qualifying time of 46.25 seconds. Freshman Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 100 free by recording a fourth-place time of 46.30. Sophomore Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) took fourth in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:07.90, which surpasses the NCAA "B" standard in that event.

Also for Grove City, junior Lincoln Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist) took fifth in the 200 breaststroke (2:08.53) while junior Rich Albertson (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) touched fifth in the 200 backstroke (2:00.83). Freshman Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon) finished sixth in the 1650 (16:50.05) while freshman Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) finished sixth in the 200 breaststroke (2:08.73). Sophomore Chris Marasco (Washington, Pa./Washington) earned sixth in the 200 butterfly (1:59.70). 

Head coach Dave Fritz earned the meet's Coach of the Year award while Courage earned PAC Most Valuable Performer honors along with the Invitational's High Point Award. It is Grove City's 14th PAC title and its 22nd conference title overall. The Wolverines also won eight Penn-Ohio Conference titles from 1954 until 1968.

WOLVERINES WIN CONFERENCE TITLE
The quartet of freshman Jenna Richert (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), sophomore Lauren Baur (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), freshman Emily Kramer (Ankeny, Iowa/Homeschooled) and sophomore Sarah Page (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) capped Grove City's championship effort by winning the 400 free relay in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 33.06 seconds. That time also provisionally qualifies the relay team for the NCAA Championships.

Page also won the 100 free in 53.15 seconds Saturday night. In the preliminaries, she posted a Grove City-record and provisional standard time of 52.75.

Richert recorded a pair of runner-up finishes for Grove City. She took second in the 1650 (17:57.48), then placed second in the 200 butterfly with a 2:10.49 clocking.

Freshman Kate Wilt (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte) placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.27) while sophomore Sarah Bargery (Springfield, Va./Homeschooled) finished third in that event with a time of 2:26.40. Both Wilt and Bargery provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in that race.

Baur touched second in the 100 free with a time of 53.99 seconds. Senior Rebecca Smiddy (Miami, Fla./Homeschooled) earned third in the 1650 with a time of 18:27.25 while junior Amanda Thompson (Erie, Pa./McDowell) placed third in the 200 backstroke with a "B" qualifying time of 2:07.94. Kramer claimed third in the 100 free (54.01).

In 1-meter diving, freshman Bethany Johnson (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Calvary Christian) earned third place after accumulating 382.80 points.

Freshman Amy Fleming (Annandale, Va./Annandale) placed fourth in the 1650 (18:35.05) while classmate Kara Sisley (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) took fifth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:13.16. Freshman Larissa Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) captured fifth in the 200 fly with a 2:20.08 clocking.

Head coach John Richards earned the Invitational's Coach of the Year award. Overall, it is Grove City's seventh conference title since the program's inception in 1988.

W&J SWIMMING/DIVING SQUADS PLACE THIRD AT PAC CHAMPIONSHIPS 
The Washington & Jefferson College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both placed third at 2009 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships following the third and final session Saturday evening.

Grove City claimed both team titles. The Wolverine men compiled 949 points to easily outdistance Westminster (805.5) and W&J (612). Bethany finished last with 62 points.

Grove City (833.5) won its first PAC women’s title since 1999. Westminster (795.5) took second place, while W&J (735) placed third. Chatham collected 367 points in fourth place and Bethany rounded out the standings with 100 points.

The Presidents earned their first conference championship of the weekend in the 200 backstroke as sophomore Brandon Smith (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) qualified for the NCAA “B” Cut during his conference-record winning time of 1:53.09. His time shaved three seconds off his PAC-title winning mark from a year ago.

Senior Brittany Bertoli (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) provided the W&J women’s first title of the weekend in the 200 butterfly after lowering her school-record pace with a time of 2:10.13.

Freshman Bethany Haver (Akron, Ohio/Harvey S. Firestone) followed that victory up with a win in the 1-meter diving event (415.60). Her point total set PAC and Grove City Invitational records.

Freshman Justin Weifenbach (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) earned his second school record of the weekend and placed second on the 3-meter diving platform with 377.70 points.

Freshman Benjamin Daggett (Bradford, Pa./Bradford) smashed teammate Michael Boutwell’s (Winchester, Va./John Handley) school record set earlier this year in the 1650 freestyle by over 35 seconds with a time of 16:32.68. Daggett placed third in the event, one spot ahead of Boutwell (16:42.54).


Men's Team Standings
1. Grove City College                  949   2. Westminster College               805.5
3. Washington & Jefferson              612   4. Penn State Behrend                  231
5. Saint Vincent College             230.5   6. Penn State - Altoona                187
7. Pitt-Bradford                       158   8. Frostburg State University          152
9. Bethany College                      62  

Women's Team Standings  
  1. Grove City College                833.5   2. Westminster College               759.5
  3. Washington & Jefferson              735   4. Chatham University                  367
  5. Saint Vincent College               220   6. Penn State Behrend                  175
  7. Frostburg State University          152   8. Penn State - Altoona                120
  9. Bethany College                     100  10. Pitt-Bradford                        82