GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah women's swimming team suffered a 138-47 setback against the Gettysburg Bullets on Friday night in Fredricksen Natatorium. In the 10 events contested on Friday night, Messiah earned a pair of victories on the evening with
Nancie Ziegler claiming the 200 Free (2:01.01) and
Katelyn Boyce winning the 200 IM (2:15.94).
With the loss, Messiah moves to 3-2 on the season and will be back in action at Gettysburg in the Gettysburg Invitational on Dec. 6-7.
Messiah's relay team of
Maelyn Elder,
Alley Sell,
Katelyn Boyce, and
Rachel Bruns earned a second-place finish in the first event of the evening, turning in a time of 1:56.93 in the 200 Medley Relay to finish just over three seconds behind the winning Gettysburg team (1:53.47).
Nancie Ziegler got Messiah off to a stellar start in the individual competitions by winning the 200 Free in a time of 2:02.02, out touching Gettysburg's Grace Bobeck (2:01.36) by a little over three-tenths of a second for the victory. Additionally, Ziegler picked up a third-place finish in the 500 Free with a time of 5:28.16, less than six seconds behind the winning time of 5:22.28.
Katelyn Boyce continued the strong start for Messiah with a half-second victory in the 200 IM. Boyce turned in a time of 2:15.94, edging Gettysburg's Talia Moss (2:16.41). Boyce trailed Moss heading into the final 50 yards, but turned in a freestyle lap that was nearly two seconds better than Moss' to claim Messiah's second-straight individual event.
Later in the evening, Boyce turned in a third-place finish in the 100 Fly with a time of 1:02.11, just over a second behind the winning time of 1:00.89 from the Bullets' Elissa Clancy.
Messiah also earned a pair of third-place finished from
Maelyn Elder and
Alley Sell in back-to-back events. Elder turned in a time of 1:04.61 in the 100 Back to finish third in the event while Sell got to the wall in 1:11.66 in the 100 Breast.
Messiah's relay team of
Emily Griesemer,
Maelyn Elder,
Nancie Ziegler, and
Rachel Bruns capped off the dual for the Falcons with a third-place finish in the final event of the night, the 200 Free Relay. Messiah turned in a time of 1:47.53 while Gettysburg won the race in a time of 1:41.24.
As mentioned, the Falcons will see the Bullets in two weeks when the Falcons head to the Gettysburg Invitational on Dec. 6-7.
