The Westminster College women's and men's swimming and diving teams completed day three of the 2014 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship on Friday night at Grove City. Both teams currently stand second behind the Wolverines.
The Titan women are only 14 points behind with 532 points, while the Titan men are trailing by 71 points with 449 points.
The Titan men won five events. Junior Steven Brooks (Boardman, OH / Boardman) highlighted the night for Westminster in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA provisional mark and a school, pool, invitational, and PAC (open and meet) record-setting time of 49.93 in the preliminaries. Brooks placed second in the 100 back finals with an NCAA provisional time of 50.18.
Westminster sophomore Matthew Baurle (Jeannette, PA / Penn Trafford) also earned an NCAA provisional time as he won the 100 breaststroke at 56.72, which is the second-best time in school history.
Titan freshman Dan Pletz (Venetia, PA / Peters Township) was crowned the champion of the 400 IM with a time of 4:10.10, which ranks second all-time in Westminster history. Junior Nicholas Smith (Indiana, PA / Indiana) followed Pletz with second-place finish with a time of 4:11.63, which is fourth-best in school history.
Titan junior Jake Pletz (Venetia, PA / Peters Township) won the 200 freestyle as he touched first at 1:41.90, which is good enough for fourth all-time in the program's history. Westminster also picked up two relay victories. The 200 medley team, consisting of Brooks, Baurle, Jake Pletz, and sophomore Max Hague (Canton, OH / Glenoak), won at 1:33.67 and the 800 freestyle team, involving Brooks, Smith, and the Pletz brothers finished first at 6:58.41.
Senior Erin Erdley (Meadville, PA / Cochranton) paced the Westminster women with an NCAA provisional time of 4:35.55 in the 400 IM for second place, which ranks third in Titan history.
Westminster junior Marina Rozick (Pittsburgh, PA / North Allegheny) and senior Amanda Marlow (Twinsburg, OH / Twinsburg) also earned third-best-all-time marks in their respective events. Rozick finished second in the 100 backstroke at 58.67, while Marlow placed second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.99. Titan sophomore Kelsey Reott (Butler, PA / Slippery Rock) followed Rozick with a third-place finish in the 100 back (59.03).
Titan freshman Samantha Tower (Export, PA / Franklin Regional) earned second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.00, good enough for fourth-best ever in program history. The quartet of Reott, Tower, Marlow, and senior Carrie Whisel (Boiling Springs, PA / Boiling Springs) picked up a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay at 1:48.34, while the 800 freestyle relay team, including freshman Anne Tillie (Fallston, MD / Fallston), Erdley, junior Ashley Wyland (Pittsburgh, PA / Taylor Allderdice), and Reott placed second with a time of 7:56.88. Wyland added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:57.99).
The Titan men are looking for their sixth (second-straight) PAC Championship, while the Titan women are striving for their fifth conference title and first since 2007.
On Saturday, the final day of the Championship, the preliminary rounds are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with championship finals set to get underway at 5:30 p.m.
Washington & Jefferson
Kevin Dunigan and Nick Willison both posed third-place finishes Friday night to highlight the Washington & Jefferson swimming & diving teams at the 2014 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships at Grove City's Longnecker Pool.
The W&J men are in third place with 322 points heading into the final day Saturday, while the women's squad is fourth with 250 points. Grove City leads both men's (520) and women's (546) standings.
Dunigan placed third in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:13.43, while Willson captured third in the 100 backstroke (53.01). He also helped the 800 freestyle relay take fourth place in a time of 7:06.16.
Jessica Sweitzer notched the top women's finish with a fourth-place showing in the 200 freestyle (1:58.58). She also swam a leg on the 800 freestyle relay (8:13.21) which took fourth place.
Charlotte Lima touched in sixth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.71), while Emeline Leyens was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.05).
The next round of diving preliminaries was competed during the afternoon and Josh Vasko holds the lwad after six 1-meter dives with 250.40 points. He owns the lead over teammate Drew Hugenberg (222.35). Jennifer Suder is in second place in the women's 3-meter competition with 262.05 points. The diving finals will be competed Saturday night.
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 26
1. Grove City College 520 2. Westminster College 449
3. Washington & Jefferson College 322 4. Saint Vincent College 307
5. Penn State Behrend 212 6. Penn State Altoona 180
7. Univ of Pittsburgh at Bradford 131 8. Bethany College 114
9. Cabrini College 80
