Messiah v. Misericordia Results - Messiah v. LVC Results
Grantham, PA – The Messiah College men's and women's swim team concluded their regular season with two wins over the weekend. Despite suffering on-the-road losses to Misericordia University Friday evening, the Falcons rallied on Saturday to sweep Lebanon Valley College in their final competition before MAC Championships.
Following an 87-113 loss to Misericordia and a solid 108-96 win over the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley, the women's team finished with a 5-8 record. On the other side, the men were one win shy of .500 at 6-7 after their 64-119 loss at Misericordia and 117-85 win against Lebanon Valley.
“Misericordia is a strong team,” head coach Nancy Luley said. “We swam well overall and it was a great warm up for Lebanon Valley on Saturday.”
The Falcons won only three individual events against Misericordia and placed third in three of the four relays on the day.
Sophomore Katelynn Sagaser had yet another banner day breaking records in both of her individual events. In the 200-freestyle, the Centreville, Maryland native's time of 2:00.35 became both the new school record, as well as the new Anderson Sports-Health Center Pool record.
Sagaser also rewrote the school record books in the 500-yard freestyle with a commanding time of 5:27.32. Her closest competitor finished more than 20 seconds behind.
The final individual win of the day came from freshman Hanna Schaffer in the 100-yard freestyle. Her time of :57.90 was a mere :00.07 faster than the Cougars' (8-5) Kiana Ramirez who finished second. Sophomore Molly Handley came in fourth with a time of 1:00.02.
Schaffer put together another nice swim in the 50-yard freestyle but could not overtake Alicia Bryk of Misericordia. Bryk's time of :25.52 took to top spot, while Schaffer finished second in :25.58. Handley's time of :26.77 earned her yet another fourth place.
On the men's side, illness left the Falcons a bit shorthanded as three swimmers were unable to compete. The Cougars (6-5) took advantage and dominated the meet, keeping Messiah from earning any first place finishes.
Despite a thin line-up, the Falcons benefitted from the return of junior Zachary McArdle, who spent most of January in Ghana participating in a cross cultural experience. McArdle made his presence known finishing second in both the 50-yard freestyle (:23.12) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.73).
Third place results were the standard for the Falcons, though, as freshman Daniel Wingert, junior Matthew Wells, and sophomore Spenser Warren all finished in similar fashion.
“They did their best and that's all I can ask for,” Luley said. “Kate[lynn] (Sagaser) had a great day and Hanna (Schaffer) had nice swims. It's unfortunate that the men were taken out by illness, but we're glad to have “Big Zach” [Zachary McArdle] back.”
On Saturday, the Falcons put together an impressive showing to sweep league rival Lebanon Valley College. The men won 10 events on the day while the women saw yet another record-breaking effort from Sagaser.
“We were awesome against Lebanon Valley,” Luley said. “We won lots of events. We were busy making MAC cuts and we had some [personal] best times. It was a great way to end the regular season.”
Sagaser was the only multi-event winner for the women taking both the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley. In the 100-yard backstroke, Sagaser broke her own record with a time of 1:02.29.
Freshman Aubrey Krueger had a fabulous swim in the 50-yard freestyle to take first place in :26.78. Junior Ashley Bell came in third with a time of :27.77.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Schaffer was the top finisher at :57.84, while Krueger's time of :59.46 earned her second place.
Other notable performances came from freshman Cassie Forman, who dropped almost 14 seconds off of her 1000-yard freestyle time, earning her a second place (12:26.64) finish and a trip to the MAC championship.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the Falcons were outdone by the Dutchmen's (7-6) Alicia Hain. Her winning time of 2:06.08 was too much for Messiah as Handley (2:09.88) and Schaffer (2:13.15) settled for second and third, respectively.
Handley earned an additional second place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:07.17. Freshman Krista Palmer's time of 1:08.07 was almost six seconds faster than her previous time and earned her a third place finish, as well as, a MAC “A” cut.
Sophomores Aimee West and Angela Klaczak rounded out the second place finishes for the women. West finished behind the Dutchmen's Kris Roaten with a time of 6:01.08 in the 500-yard freestyle, while Klaczak's second place nod came in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:15.31.
On the men's side, multi-event wins came from Wingert, McArdle, and Warren.
Wingert dropped almost 25 seconds off of his previous time in 1000-yard freestyle –an off event for him- to take first place in 11:10.92. In a more familiar event, 100-yard breaststroke, Wingert picked up his second individual win with at time of 1:04.35.
After almost a full month away from competitive swimming, McArdle swam his season best time of :51.14 in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Joseph Hines came in third at :53.86. McArdle's other win came in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of :22.97.
Warren was the final multi-event winner taking both the 100-yard butterfly (:59.67) and 100-yard backstroke (1:00.73).
Hines earned the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:00.80, while Wells finished slightly behind for third (2:01.67). Wells earned an additional third place result in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:52.95.
In the 200-yard individual medley, first place went to freshman Reid Hartzell. His time of 2:15.30 was almost four seconds ahead of his closest competitor.
In the final event of the evening, the Falcons made history.
“We didn't have a pool record for the 800-[yard] free[style] relay so we decided to create one,” Luley said. “We are a very competitive team, so it was a lot of fun. We now have a new record and some new names up there on the record board.”
The record relay time of 8:37.41 was set by junior Bradley Culwell, Wells, sophomore Tim Alarcon, and Wingert.
With their final two wins in hand, the Falcons begin to prepare for MAC championship weekend. In only its third year of existence, the Messiah swimming team looks to surpass last year's results.
“We are starting to rest,” Luley said. “No more morning practices and we're cutting things back a bit overall. I'm hoping for great things at MAC's, so we want to be fresh and ready to go.”
The Falcons will send 11 men and 14 women to the main event, which takes place February 11th, 12th, and 13th at the Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
