Results
Grantham, PA - Messiah College closed out their regular season in impressive fashion on Saturday, sweeping Lebanon Valley with victories on both the men's and women's side.
Messiah women stormed ahead and never looked back, taking a 152-52 victory. The men swam just as well, winning 134-50 over the Dutchmen.
The Falcons won 21 of 22 events on the day, with the women dominating all 11 events. Senior
Katelynn Sagaser and junior
Hanna Schaffer led the way for the women, while junior
Nate Brown was 3-for-3 on the day for the men.
Schaffer was triumphant in both the 200-yard (2:05.06) and 100-yard freestyle (:57.27). She also swam the anchor leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, which included sophomores
Laura Penwell and
Lauren Clune, and freshman
Anna McArdle. Their winning time of 1:45.10 was almost three seconds faster than their closest opponent.
Penwell also won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of :26.63. Senior
Molly Handley was very close behind for second at :26.97. She also picked up a second place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.09) behind freshman
Renee Ormond (1:05.45). Clune was part of a trio that finished 1-2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle. Clune's time of 5:43.45 took the top spot with junior
Abbie Stonelake (5:51.82) finishing second and sophomore
Julie Price (6:04.36) coming in third.
The Falcons' (8-5, 8-2) closest race came in the 100-yard breaststroke. McArdle and senior
Angela Klaczak battled throughout the event, resulting in McArdle out-touching Klaczak for the win at 1:13.45, just :00.04 seconds ahead of Klaczak.
On a night when the seniors were recognized for their achievements, the most decorated Falcon, senior
Katelynn Sagaser, did not dissappoint. Sagaser won all three of her events, hopefully foreshadowing what is to come at the MAC championships.
In the 200-yard medley relay, Sagaser swam the anchor leg and brought home the victory along with freshman
Caitlin Magaw, Klaczak, and Handley (1:58.49). Sagaser demonstrated her brilliance in the 400-yard individual medley, playing a bit of cat and mouse with her opponents. After a close start in the butterfly, Sagaser fell behind LVC's Jan Ikeda in the backstroke, but closed the gap throughout the breaststroke. In the freestyle, Sagaser turned it on to slowly, but surely overtake Ikeda and finish more than two seconds ahead to win the event at 4:57.56. The reigning MAC champion in the 100-yard backstroke, Sagaser earned her final win in the event with a time of 1:02.15.
"The women were strong yet again today," head coach
Nancy Luley said. "Coming off of the win over Misericordia last evening, it was nice to see us swim so well with very little rest time."
On the men's side, the Falcons (7-6, 7-3) had many great performances on the day, winning 10 or 11 events. Junior
Nate Brown led Messiah with wins in the 50-yard (:22.14) and 100-yard (:51.47) freestyle. He also joined sophomore
Luke Sagaser, freshman
Aaron Eckman, and sophomore
Sam Kidd to win the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:35.32).
Eckman also took the top spot in the 400-yard individual medley (4:40.19) and 500-yard freestyle (5:10.66).
Another stellar multi-event performance came from senior
Tim Alarcon. Alarcon was fastest in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.24) and 100-yard butterfly (:56.48).
The Falcons rounded things out with wins in the 1000-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. Sagaser took the 1000-free (11:30.99), while junior
Daniel Wingert was best in the 100-breaststroke (1:04.99).
Junior
Reid Hartzell, who re-joined the team after studying abroad for most of the semester, claimed his second MAC cut of the season, this time in the 200-yard individual medley (2:19.89).
"It was so fun to see Reid get his MAC cut today," Luley said. "We were all rooting for him. It's been a tough road trying to get back into shape, but he's been working really hard and has peaked at just the right time."
With today's wins, the Falcons look to take their performances to the next level at the MAC Championships. In just two weeks, Messiah will send numerous athletes to compete in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Championships are set for February 8-10.
Follow the Falcons throughout the Championship weekend at GoMessiah.com.
