Allegheny Men
The Allegheny College men's swimming and diving team closed its calendar year of competition by finishing second out of nine teams at the Blue Devil Invite this afternoon.
The Blue Devil Invite, hosted by Fredonia State University, started on Friday with the 200 individual medley prelims and finished today with the 400 freestyle relay. Allegheny sat in second place on all three days, picking up a total of 640.5 points on the weekend. Wheeling Jesuit scored 725 points to claim top honors.
The Gators brought home a pair of second-place individual finishes and two silvers in the relay events. Allegheny also claimed a third-place effort, two fifth-place finishes, and a couple of sevenths.
The day began for the Gators in the 200 medley relay. The team of juniors Danny Litwin, Jack Bailey, sophomore Frank Chen, and freshman Kadeem Lafargue placed second with a time of 1:35.96. To close the competition, Litwin, Bailey, and Lafargue joined junior Henry Ditzel in the 400 freestyle relay as the quartet finished the race in 3:13.58.
Chen tallied the two individual second-place finishes in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. The Sayre, Pa. native was edged out by four hundredths of a second in the former after clocking in at 52.27 seconds, and finished the latter event with a time of 53.04 seconds.
Allegheny saw three of its swimmers advance to the finals of the 400 individual medley and picked up a total of 42 points in the event with third, fifth, and seventh-place finishes. Freshman Matthew Nardozzi led the charge with a time of 4:09.63, while senior Garrett Devenney touched in at 4:24.93. Junior Patrick Hollenbeck completed the trio's effort after clocking in at 4:27.74.
Only one other school (Penn State-Behrend) had two swimmers in the 400 IM finals.
Bailey gave the Gators a second point-scorer in the 100 back as his time of 53.60 seconds netted him a fifth-place finish. Litwin placed seventh in the 200 breaststroke, clocking in at 2:15.13.
Allegheny returns to the pool on Wednesday, Jan. 6 as it travels to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to face North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) foe Wittenberg.
Allegheny Women
The Allegheny College women's swimming and diving team moved up one spot to finish second out of nine teams this afternoon at the Blue Devil Invite.
Allegheny entered the final day of the competition in third place with 365 points, just ahead of North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) opponent Oberlin (364). The Gators finished with 614 points, leaping over Wheeling Jesuit (589) in the standings while keeping pace against the Yeowomen (611). John Carroll claimed top honors with 697 points.
Sophomore Julianne Reed was victorious in the 100 backstroke and helped the 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams claim second and fourth-place finishes, respectively.
Reed and junior Megan Feeney finished first and third in the 100 back and brought home 36 of the available 118 points in the event. Reed touched in at 59.23 seconds – 25 hundredths of a second ahead of second-place – and Feeney clocked in with a time of 1:00.09.
The duo teamed up with senior Maggie McClain and sophomore Amanda Carroll in the 400 freestyle relay as a time of 3:38.41 netted them a second-place finish. Reed, Feeney, and McClain joined senior Kali Schneider in the 200 medley relay as they clocked in at 1:54.55 to claim fourth.
Allegheny collected fifth and eighth-place finishes in the 200 freestyle, thanks to Carroll and senior Mia Izzo. Izzo was the fastest Gator in the event with a time of 1:59.61, while the sophomore touched in at 2:01.37.
Senior Alison Herlitzka finished sixth in the 400 individual medley, clocking in at 4:59.95. Freshman Lauren Mesikapp claimed seventh in the 100 butterfly after a 1:02.41 performance.
The diving pair of senior Erica Salizzoni and sophomore Rachel Steiner scored points in the one and three-meter dives. Salizzoni placed third in the one-meter with a score of 383.05, while Steiner tallied 336.05 to pick up a seventh-place finish. The sophomore edged out the senior in the three-meter as Steiner scored 368.75 (4th) to Salizzoni's 361.30 (5th).
Allegheny will enjoy the holiday break before returning to action on Wednesday, Jan. 6 as it travels to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to face NCAC foe Wittenberg.
