Results MC Results
Annville, PA - The Messiah men's and women's swim teams ended their regular season in impressive fashion, sweeping the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College Saturday afternoon. The men won every event on the day to finish victorious 203-48, while the women battled for a solid 157-104 win.
"This was a great win for us," head coach
Nancy Luley said. "We did an awesome job and had a ton of fun. I am very pleased with our performance."
The women's team (6-5, 6-2) saw mutli-event wins from freshman
Laura Penwell in the 100-meter backstroke (1:11.27) and 100-meter individual medley (1:11.27).
Senior
Chloe Hockley swam a phenomenal race in the 800-meter freestyle to earn a MAC cut and a first place finish at 10:48.39. Classmate
Ashley Bell was close behind at 10:49.39 for second.
In the 200-meter freestyle, sophomore
Hanna Schaffer narrowly edged freshman
Lauren Clune to finish one-two with times of 2:21.06 and 2:21.10, respectively. Clune went on to dominate the 400-meter freestyle and win the event with a time of 4:58.87.
Junior
Katelynn Sagaser had an impressive swim in the 100-meter butterfly. Her first place time of 1:07.61 was more than seven seconds faster than her closest opponent.
Freshman
Hannah Teklits and junior
Aimee West finished first and third in the 50-meter freestyle with times of :29.75 and :30.78, respectively.
In the 100-meter freestyle, freshman
Nicole Barberides (1:05.45) and junior
Molly Handley (1:07.42) put up good times to finish one-two.
Sophomore
Amanda White took the top prize in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:27.09.
In the relays, the Falcons placed second and third in the 200-meter medley, while the team of Handley, Clune, Sagaser, and Schaffer combined for a first place finish in the the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.00.
"The women had a good showing overall," Luley said. "The 800-free from
Chloe Hockley and
Ashley Bell were amazing and
Katelynn Sagaser's 100-fly was truly outstanding."
On the men's side, the Falcons (5-6, 5-3) were led by freshman
Luke Sagaser and sophomores
Daniel Wingert and
Zach Krueger, who each won two individual events.
Sagaser led the way in the 200-meter freestyle (2:15.05) and 50-meter backstroke (:31.84). Freshman
Nathan Good and sophomore
Evan Jewell finished two-three behind Sagaser in the 50-meter backstroke with times of :32.63 and :34.87, respectively.
Wingert dominated the breaststroke events winning both the 50-meter (:32.46) and 100-meter (1:12.42). In the 50-meter event, freshmen
Michael Lacson and
Sam Kidd finished two-three behind Wingert with times of :33.63 and :36.16, respectively. Sophomore
Reid Hartzell joined Wingert in the 100-meter breaststroke for third place (1:19.97).
In the closest event of the day, 100-meter butterfly, first and second place were determined by just :00.01. Krueger took to top spot at 1:06.76, sophomore
Mark Wagner captured second at 1:06.77, and sophomore Taylor Shields finished third at 1:07.10. Kreuger also went on to win the 50-meter butterfly with a time of :29.63 and junior
Malcolm McDermond finished in second (:31.09).
Hartzell earned an additional MAC cut in the 800-meter freestyle to win the event at 10:29.57.
Junior
Brandon Baker won the 50-meter freestyle (:27.38) with senior
Brad Culwell coming in third at :28.31.
The Falcons swept the top three places in the 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke, and 100-meter individual medley. In the freestyle event, junior
Tim Alarcon came in first (:58.70), Sagaser in second (1:01.38), and Culwell in third (1:02.63). Sophomore
Nate Brown (1:09.55), freshman
Nathan Good (1:14.36), and Jewell (1:14.66) were the top three in the backstroke event. In the individual medley, Lacson (1:05.36), Alarcon (1:06.78), and Wingert (1:09.70) went one-two-three.
Senior
Zachary McArdle rounded out the individual wins with a strong performance in the 400-meter freestyle (4:40.04).
Messiah was tough to beat in the relays as they went one-two in both the 200-meter medley and 200-meter freestyle. McArdle, Wingert, Krueger, and Brown made up the first place team in the 200-medley relay (1:58.30), while Sagaser, Shields, Alarcon, and McArdle won the 200-meter freeystyle relay with a time of 1:46.54.
With the wins, the Falcons will take their momentum and set their sights on MAC championships.
"We're right where we should be going into MACs ," Luley said. "We added a number of MAC cuts to our repertoire today, which means we will be taking the highest number of swimmers [to MACs] to date. Now we rest and taper and try to keep everyone healthy."
Messiah will take 16 men and 21 women to the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships at the Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The first preliminaries will take place on Friday, February 10 at 12:00 p.m. For championship information,
click here.
