Franklin & Marshall Men
Franklin & Marshall finished out competition at the F&M Invitational on Sunday night, finishing in fifth place out of nine teams. The Diplomats earned 953 points over the five sessions of the meet while Delaware took home team honors with a score of 1757.
The strongest performance of the day was Timothy Gould's second place finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Gould finished with a time 1:57.53 to win 28 points for the Diplomats. He was followed up by Jack Currie, who won the B Final in 2:02.00 to take ninth overall, and Justin Atkinson whose time of 2:05.49 was good for 11th.
The 500-yard freestyle featured a strong team showing from F&M as the Diplomats advanced four swimmers into the finals. Richard Perry led the way, taking sixth with a time of 4:52.24. Patrick Greaney took 12th with a time of 4:54.99, while Reeves Connolly (15th, 4:58.38) and Jordan Alter (24th, 5:05.86) also contributed points for F&M.
Ryan Caffrey led another group of four F&M competitors in the finals of the 100-yard breaststroke, taking eighth with a time of 1:01.34. Eric Lang took 14th with a time 1:02.56, followed by Daniel Sanders in 16th (1:03.67) and Tyler Zlupko in 22nd (1:04.26).
Lang and Caffrey also showed well in the 200-yard IM, with Lang leading the way by posting an eighth-place finish in 2:01.32. Caffrey took 14th with a time of 2:02.52.
Other strong performers included Cody Kalinowski (ninth in the 200-yard butterfly, 1:59.64) and the team of Caffrey, Matthew Murphy, Keith Kamons, and Sanders (seventh in the 400-yard freestyle relay, 3:15.37).
F&M returns to action on Dec. 4 at the Randolph-Macon Invitational in Ashland, Virginia.
Franklin & Marshall Women
The women of the Franklin & Marshall swim team completed competition at the F&M Invitational on Sunday evening, finishing in fourth place out of 12 teams. The Diplomats collected 775 points over three days, while winners Delaware recorded 1790.
Melissa Mullin followed up yesterday's performances with another good effort in the 200-yard IM, leading a group of five F&M swimmers in the finals by taking third in 2:12.17. Anna Hess also qualified into the A final, taking sixth with a time of 2:13.88. Kellen McDonald led three Diplomats in the B final, taking 9th overall in 2:13.47 while Courtney Collins finished in 14th (2:16.40) and Michelle Wall took 16th (2:22.93).
McDonald was back in action for the 200-yard butterfly, taking eighth overall with a time of 2:12.49. Diane Wagner finished in 2:16.59 to take 13th, and Grace Pereles took 17th in 2:17.47.
Hess matched McDonald with an eighth-place finish of her own in the 200-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 2:11.73. Taylor Mateja took 15th in the event (2:16.10), followed by Collins in 22nd (2:16.38).
Pereles and Breann Cavanagh both qualified for the B final in the 500-yard frestyle. Pereles claimed 13th with a time of 5:14.95, while Cavanagh earned 15th in 5:17.36.
The only relay of the night saw the Diplomats take ninth, with the team of Jillian Albus, Hess, Wagner, and Mateja finishing the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:42.15.
F&M returns to action on Dec. 4 at the Randolph-Macon Invitational. The invitational, held in Ashland, Va., will be the final competition before the winter break.
Frostburg State
Four more school records and one meet record fell as the Frostburg State men's and women's swim teams closed out the final day of the F&M Invite on a wave of success, Sunday.
Three Bobcats combined to break four school records on the final day of competition, led by sophomore Macey Nitchie who broke records in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle.
Nitchie broke the 500 freestyle record in prelims this morning, touching in at 5:20.69, beating the previous record, set in 2004, by six seconds. She went on to break her own school record in the 100-yard freestyle at finals, when she touched in at 53.74, beating her previous record of 53.79, set last February. She also took ninth overall in the event.
Sophomore Christian March continued his impressive weekend swimming to a record-breaking time in the 100-yard breaststroke. March touched first in 56.32, breaking both the F&M Invite meet record as well as the previous Bobcat school record of 57.61, set by March last February.
March's time of 56.32 currently stands as the fastest time in Division III this season, and is also an NCAA B cut and an ECAC A cut.
Freshman Maddie Weinberger broke another 20-year old school record and made an appearance in the A final for the second night in a row.
After last night's record breaking performance in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:28.41), Weinberger turned around to break the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke tonight. Her time of 1:08.08 was good enough to take sixth place overall and an ECAC A cut.
Sophomore Zach Shattuck broke six Paralympic American records throughout the weekend in the 50 and 200-yard freestyles, the 100 and 200-yard individual medley's and the 50 and 100-yard butterfly events.
The Bobcat women finished the Invitational with 225 points and a 10th place finish while the men finished eighth with 350 points.
Freshman Emily Turner swam in the C final of the 200-backstroke, posting a career-best time of 2:14.23 and a 19th place finish. Her time is also an ECAC B cut.
The women's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Weinberger, junior Sydney Fazenbaker, Turner and Nitchie placed 15th in 3:49.12.
On the men's side, five different Bobcats made it back to finals tonight.
Sophomore James Williams swam in the B final of the 200-yard backstroke, touching in 2:06.07 for 14th place; just a second slower than his career-best time of 2:05.75 which he swam in prelims this morning.
Sophomore's Christian Blocker and Deionn Yarberough swam to 18th and 19th place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke, touching in at 2:08.36 and 2:08.98, respectively.
In the 100-yard freestyle, freshman Sidney Horton placed 19th in his career-best time of 48.90, also making an ECAC B cut.
The Bobcats will take a break from competition until Saturday, January 16th when they travel to York (Pa.) for a meet at 1:00 pm.
