Results
Grantham, PA - The men's swimming squad sweep the quad meet today against Hood College (154-107), FDU-Florham (214-31), and Widener University (134-121). On the women's side, they defeated FDU-Florham (219-25), and Hood College (177-84), but narrowly lost against Widener University (136-125).
Both the men and the women took first place in five of their 14 events each.
Freshman
Aaron Eckman proved to be the distance swimmer the team was looking for by winning the 1000-yard freestyle (10:29.62). The win was especially impressive as he won by almost a full minute over the rest of the competition. He was also only a second behind William Gelgot of Widener in the 500-yard freestyle.
Junior
Daniel Wingert won both the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke (29.12, 1:04.08) and
Nate Brown won the 50-yard freestyle (22.31). Rounding out the last of the race winners for Messiah was senior
Tim Alarcon in the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.61).
There were three women that won individual races on the day. Junior
Hanna Schaffer won the 50-yard freestyle (25.27), freshman
Caitlin Magaw won the 50-yard backstroke (29.53), and senior
Katelynn Sagaser won the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.41). Magaw won her race by only nine one-hundredths of a second over Shannon McHale of Hood College.
The women's team also saw victories in the 200-yard medley relay (1:54.28), and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:43.38).
In the penultimate event of the afternoon, the women of the 200-yard freestyle relay team finished out their meet in exciting fashion. They won the race by only three one-hundredths of a second. The anchor, Schaffer, entered the pool with a deficit but at the end touched the wall before the team from Widener.
Despite the final win, the women couldn't edge out the Pride of Widener.
"The women did everything they could, but Widener was just too strong today," Said head coach
Nancy Luley. "There were a lot of close, hard fought races. Everyone swam really well and that helped us get victories today."
With these finishes the teams are looking forward to Wednesday's meet against Elizabethtown. That meet is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Fredericksen natatorium.
