Results
Wilkes-Barre, PA – The Messiah College men's and women's swim teams traveled to King's College Saturday to take on conference foes Arcadia University and hosts Monarchs. The Falcons showed no signs of wear and tear from the previous evening's losses to Gettysburg College as they dominated their opponents to sweep the tri-meet.
The Messiah women continued their record breaking efforts setting two school standards en route to winning eight of 14 events. The Falcons' consistency was too much for their opponents as they outscored the Arcadia Knights (4-8) 88-33 and the Monarchs of King's College (5-4) 76-45.
On the men's side, Messiah won 10 of 14 events, with multiple wins coming from three different swimmers, as the Falcons handled King's (1-6) 82-32 and Arcadia (2-9) 80.5-40.5.
“We were on a roll today,” head coach Nancy Luley said. “Although we were tired from Friday night's meet, its good practice for MAC's where we swim two times a day.”
In the opening women's 200-yard medley relay, the foursome of junior Ashley Bell, sophomores Angela Klaczak and Molly Handley, and freshman Hanna Schaffer claimed the top spot with a time of 2:00.00.
Sophomore Katelynn Sagaser had a tremendous showing breaking two school records, while winning three individual events. The Centreville, Maryland native set her first record of the day in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:18.27. The previous record holder, junior Ashley Bell, came in second at 2:30.97.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Sagaser led the pack with a time of 2:18.19 to break her own week-old record of 2:20.97. Her final individual win came in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:03.92, while sophomore Jean Cho placed third with a time of 1:12.44.
Handley also had an impressive showing winning both the 200-yard butterfly (2:35.98) and 100-yard butterfly (1:06.14).
Schaffer's time of :58.12 earned her a first place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Cassie Forman missed second place by :00.24 to finish third with a time of 1:00.98. In the 200-yard freestyle, Schaffer came in second behind the Monarchs' Maggie Nealer (2:06.53) with a time of 2:10.18.
Other noteworthy performances came from Klaczak in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke as she claimed second place in both events. Sophomore Aimee West took third place in the 100-yard event, while freshman Amanda White finished third in the 200-yard race.
Freshmen Ashley Krueger and Christina Ashman finished 2-3 in the 50-yard freestyle behind the Knights' Jessica Parker (:26.87). Krueger's time of :27.21 earned her second place, while Ashman came in third at :27.48.
The Falcons finished their day winning the 400-yard freestyle relay by almost seven seconds. Sagaser, Krueger, Forman, and Schaffer combined for a time of 3:58.62. Second place went to King's College at 4:05.28.
“The women put together a lot of really nice swims,” Luley said. “We almost went 1-2 in the opening relay and that really set the tone for the day.”
On the men's side, Messiah mirrored the women's dominance winning both relay events. Sophomore Spenser Warren, freshmen Daniel Wingert, Zach Krueger, and Joe Hines combined for a superior time of 1:47.62 in the 200-yard medley relay. Junior Matthew Wells joined forces with Krueger, Hines, and sophomore Tim Alarcon in the 400-yard freestyle relay for a winning time of 3:37.42.
Messiah dominated the individual events, too, as three Falcons were multiple event winners. Warren led the way with three individual wins, while Wingert and Alarcon grabbed two of their own.
Wingert was unstoppable in the breaststroke events, taking both the 100-yard and 200-yard races. His time of 2:18.53 broke the school record - set by Derek Forster (2:18.82) on February 14, 2010 to earn a fourth place finish at the MAC finals – in the 200-yard distance. Freshman Reid Hartzell came in third with a time of 2:33.68.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Alarcon fought off Wingert to earn the top spot with a time of 2:12.95. Wingert was close behind at 2:13.23. Alarcon's other win came in less dramatic fashion as he finished in 2:20.47, more than two seconds before his second place opponent - Monarchs' Justin Weilert - at 2:22.91 in the 200-yard butterfly.
Warren finished four for four on the day, taking the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke, and the 100-yard butterfly. Wells's time of 2:20.95 earned him a third place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, behind Warren's winning time of 2:12.92. In the 100-yard butterfly, Warren was the only swimmer to finish under a minute (:59.34), while Krueger narrowly missed the mark at 1:00.62 for second.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Hines went neck-and-neck with the Knights' Jason Sharpe. Hines' strong final push earned a first place finish at 1:59.08. Sharpe came in second with a time of 1:59.31. Hines swam a strong race in the 50-yard freestyle but was touched out by the Monarchs' Eric Stenconvage. Stenconvage's time of :24.02 was just enough to push Hines into second place at :24.30.
With only two meets left in the regular season, the Falcons continue to focus on improving their times and finishing strong before MAC Championships.
“I want to finish with two wins and take that momentum into MAC's,” Luley said. “We have more than 10 days off until our next meet, so we're going to mix it up when we train this week to keep things fun and competitive.”
The Falcons return to action on Friday, January 28th when they travel to Dallas, PA to take on Misericordia University. The meet is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m.
