Results
Grantham, PA - A mid-week meet against a Conference opponent can be a coach's worst nightmare, but the Falcons swim team put head coach
Nancy Luley at ease with two commanding wins over Elizabethtown College Wednesday evening.
The women displayed their dominance in the opening 400-yard medley relay, finishing 1-2-3 en route to a 126-71 win.
"Our women's relay's are very solid," Luley said. "We have several combinations that are very powerful, which will make things very interesting at the MAC championships."
The Falcons finished 1-2-3 in the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley. Sophomore
Laura Penwell, senior
Angela Klaczak, and junior
Krista Palmer claimed the first three spots in the backstroke, while junior
Hanna Schaffer, freshmen
Anna McArdle and
Caitlin Magaw all came in under :57 in the freestyle.
In her first collegiate 400-yard individual medley, freshman
Renee Ormond won the event with a time of 5:09.76. Sophomore
Marissa Jones (5:18.38) and junior
Krista Palmer (5:21.31) finished 2-3, respectively.
On the men's side, the Falcons were strong in both relays and individual events, yet all eyes were fixed on two particular events; the 200-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley.
After helping his relay team win the opening 400-yard medley, junior
Nate Brown turned in a gutsy performance in his next event, the 200-yard freestyle. Brown led the first length, fell behind at the split, yet pulled out the win with a time of 1:59.05, just :00.06 ahead of Elizabethtown's Ryan Hannon.
"Brownie decided to make things interesting in the 200-free," Luley said. He touched the wall first and that's all that matters."
The most impressive moment of the evening came during the 400-yard individual medley. Freshman
Aaron Eckman stole the show by breaking the school record with a time of 4:34.24 in his first collegiate attempt at the event. The previous record (4:38.48) was set by Adam Vogel on November 19, 2011.
With the 112-69 win, the men increased their win streak to four, while the women moved to .500.
"This was a very nice evening for us in the pool," Luley said. "We had a lot of personal bests and numerous MAC cuts. To perform this well at this point in the season is really fantastic."
Messiah looks to continue their impressive performances when they take on Albright College this Saturday. The meet is set to begin at 2:00 pm in Reading, Pa.
