Gator Women Win over Westminster

Nov 2, 2007

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Allegheny women posted their first dual meet victory of the 2007-08 season topping Westminster College by a 144-118 score, as the men fell 169-84 to the Titans.

The women’s team won 12 of 16 events for the evening, including a trio of wins by four different swimmers.

The squad got the meet off on the right foot with a three-second victory in the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of Carolyn Nairn (Lubbock, Texas/Brownell-Talbot), Erin Ham (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area), Megan McGuire (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) and Ashley Whitehead (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area) teamed for a time of 1:53.41.

Meghan Knox (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) followed with an individual victory in the 1,000 freestyle, touching the wall in 11:20.89, nearly nine seconds ahead of the second place finisher. With an event break after the opening relay, Nairn dominated the competition in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:00.90. Ham narrowly missed the “B” cut in the 100 breaststroke, finishing her race in a time of 1:08.98, a little over a second off of the qualifying time of 1:07.59.

Hannah Stewart (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) followed with a second-place finish in the 200 butterfly, before Whitehead continued her dominance in the 50 freestyle, swimming her second consecutive sub-25 second 50 freestyle to start her career, touching the wall in a time of 24.94.

Whitehead’s early streak of dominance ended in the 100 freestyle, as she finished second by two tenths of a second, 56.53 to 56.73. Nairn followed with a second place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:14.18, with Ham winning the 200 breaststroke, topping teammate Rachelle Barrett (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area), as the pair swam to times of 2:33.16 and 2:36.92, respectively.

Knox easily took the top spot in the 500 freestyle, winning by over 10 seconds and touching the wall in 5:32.32. Katie Scherry (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) took top honors in the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:01.29, before Barrett took second in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:22.13.

The Allegheny women ended the meet the way they started - with a victory in a relay event - finishing two seconds ahead of Westminster's squad in the 200 free relay, as Whitehead, Scherry, McGuire and Knox teamed up to swim to a time of 1:42.41.

The men’s squad struggled against the strong Titan team, as Ashton Kinney (Sewickley, Pa./Sewickley Academy) led the way with the second fastest time in the 500 freestyle, touching the wall in 5:14.06 after taking third earlier in the meet in the 1,000 free (10:58.03).

Ryan Lawrence (Union City, Pa./Union City) narrowly missed a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle, with Josh Sesek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) taking third in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and Colin Gundling (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) placing third in the 100 butterfly.

The Gators do not get a break from action, as they hop back into the pool tomorrow afternoon when they will travel to Gannon University in a dual meet with the Knights to start at 1:00 p.m.

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