Results
YORK, Pa. - The Messiah women's swimming team dropped a close dual to the York Spartans on Saturday afternoon by a score of 137-124. While Messiah claimed eight of the 14 events contested on Saturday, it was the Spartans who showed their depth to claim the dual.
Nancie Ziegler once again won both the 1000 Free (11:00.62) and the 500 Free (5:23.59). Ziegler claimed the 1000 Free by more than 11 seconds over the Spartans' Andi Sturgis. In the 500 Free, Ziegler was one of two Falcons to finish in the top three along with
Kaylee Hollenbach, who took third with a time of 5:30.33. In addition to her stellar performances in the two distance events, Ziegler claimed the 200 Fly with a time of 2:19.78, winning the event by three seconds.
Along with her third-place finish in the 500 Free, Hollenbach claimed the 50 Free, getting to the wall in 25.17 to win the event by .62 of a second.
Maelyn Elder earned a pair of top-two finishes with a season-best time in the 200 Back (2:17.96), finishing in second place while also wining the 400 IM. Elder won the 400 IM, getting to the wall in 4:54.56, ahead of teammate
Britta Heath, who took second with a time of 4:58.10.
Ally Sell claimed a pair of events on Saturday with first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 Breast. She finsihed the 100 Breast in a time of 1:10.62, winning the event by a little over two seconds. In the 200 Breast, Sell registered a time of 2:38.04, taking the event by just 1.65 seconds ahead of York's Taylor Harper.
Molly Martin and
Maelyn Elder finished back-to-back in the 100 Back with second and third-place finishes. Martin turned in a season-best time of 1:03.46 in the event with Elder right on her heels in a time of 1:03.91. York's Justine Wantz won the event in a time of 59.47.
Brittany Pond and
Cassie Cotton also turned in top-three times in individual events with Cotton finishing second in the 100 Free (55.15) and Pond taking third in the 200 Free (2:06.48). Pond also finished in second in the 100 Fly (1:04.69).
Messiah and York split the relays with the Falcons' team of Hollenbach, Sell, Elder, and Cotton winning the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 1:53.09. The Falcons trailed slightly heading into the last leg, but Cotton chased down the Spartans (1:54.62) on her way out and held on to win the race by a little over half a second.
The Spartans got the best of the Falcons in the 200 Free Relay, getting to the wall just over a second ahead of the Messiah team of Cotton, Pond,
Emily Decker, and Hollenbach. The Falcons finished in 1:42.72 behind York's mark of 1:41.46.
Messiah will return to conference competition next Saturday when they host Misericordia and Albright at 1:00 p.m. in Fredericksen Natatorium.
