Women Take 2nd, Men 6th at Wooster Invite

Dec 2, 2007

WOOSTER, Ohio – The Allegheny College women’s swimming & diving team took second place overall at the 2007 College of Wooster Invitational. Leading the way for the Gators in the final day of the three-day event was a pair of first place finishes, one from Glenna Kramer (Oakdale, Pa./West Allegheny) on the one-meter diving board, and the other when Erin Ham (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area) took top honors in the 200 breaststroke. The men picked up their first individual win of the weekend when Jayson Loeffert (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) topped all competitors on the one-meter diving board.

The Gator women were one of three teams on the women’s side to eclipse 1,000 points with 1,143. Host Wooster won the event with 1,608 points while Case Western Reserve finished directly behind the Blue and Gold with 1,002.5 tallies. Oberlin (991) and California (Pa.) (945) rounded out the top five teams in the field.

On the men’s side, the squad scored 633 points. Westminster took team honors with 1,671 points with Wooster narrowly taking second with 1,636. Case Western Reserve (1,296.5), Ohio Northern (1,090) and Oberlin (647) finished off the top five teams in the grouping.

For the Gator women, the strong finishes seemed to happen in pairs, as three separate events (200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly) saw a pair of Gators finishing strong in the finals. Leading the way in the pool was Ham in a time of 2:30.96, who went undefeated in breaststroke events, winning the 200 today after taking first in the 100 a day earlier. Teammate Rachelle Barrett (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) finished close behind, touching the wall in a time of 2:37.43, good for fifth in the field.

Katie Scherry (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) and Hannah Stewart (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) placed third and seventh in the 200 butterfly, finishing in times of 2:18.12 and 2:21.29, respectively with Carolyn Nairn (Lubbock, Texas/Brownell-Talbot) and Megan Knox (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) placing fifth and eighth in the 200 backstroke, the former finishing in a time of 2:14.60 and the latter 2:18.12.

The Gators nearly set a school record in the 400 freestyle relay, as the team of Nairn, Knox, Scherry and Ashley Whitehead (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area) swam to a second-place finish time of 3:39.88. The squad was just four seconds away from the school record of 3:35.09, and even closer to the NCAA Division III “B” cut time of 3:35.43.

The Gators were also dominant in the diving events, with Kramer taking first on the one-meter board, accumulating 360.15 points, over 30 more than the second place competitor, with Bridget Donnelly finishing second on the three-meter board.

For the men, Loeffert led the way with a first-place finish on the one-meter board with 401.10 points, while taking second on the three-meter board with 400.25 points. Josh Sesek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) also finished in the top eight overall in an event, the 200 breaststroke, taking eighth overall in a time of 2:18.08.

The Gators take a month off from meets, before next hitting the pool competitively on Saturday, January 12 when the team hosts conference foe Hiram in a dual meet starting at 1:00 p.m.

Printable Version