Gators Split with Case on Senior Day

Feb 2, 2008

RESULTS

MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Allegheny women's swimming and diving team picked up eight first-place finishes on their way to earning a 130-99 victory while the Gator men fell 115-108 against Case Western Reserve at Mellon Pool on Saturday afternoon.

The women opened the day with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay behind the team of Carolyn Nairn (Denver, Colo./Brownell-Talbot, Neb.), Erin Ham (Fraklin, Pa./Franklin Area), Katie Scherry (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River), and Ashley Whitehead (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area), who finished the race in a time of 1:52.27.

The Gators went on to capture individual first-place finishes in the next five events, starting with Arielle Conti (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) finishing the 1,000-yard freestyle in a season-best time of 11:06.55. Megan Knox (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) followed suit with a first-place showing in the 200-yard free with a career-best time of 2:00.67 and was followed by Whitehead in the 50-yard free with a time of 25:44.

Ham (shown left) continued the streak in the 200-yard individual medley with a season-best showing of 2:19.09, while Glenna Kramer (Oakdale, Pa./West Allegheny) captured first in the one-meter dive (422.15). The last of Allegheny’s five consecutive wins came in the 100-yard butterfly as Scherry finished first with a time of 1:02.02.

Allegheny would add to their first-place total later on in the meet with victories coming courtesy of Nairn in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.47) and Knox in the 500-yard free (5:25.02), as both recorded season-bests in their respective events. Kramer completed her day with another first place showing on the three-meter board (263.15).

The Gator women also totaled four second-place finishes on the day including a pair from Bridget Donnelly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), on both the one-meter and three-meter boards with respective scores of 209.75 and 220.30. Whitehead and Nairn added to their days with second-place showings in the 100-yard free (56.86) and 50-yard free (26.11) respectively.

For the men, a pair of Gators, Ryan Lawrence (Union City, Pa./Union City) and Josh Sesek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood), earned two first-place finishes apiece. Lawrence was victorious in the 200-yard free (1:49.94) and the 100-yard free with a season-best time of 49:03. Sesek took first in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.47) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.32).

The Gators captured first and second in the 500-yard freestyle with Ashton Kinney (Sewickley, Pa./Sewickley Academy) and Beau Whiteman (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) finishing in respective times of 5:07.61 and 5:08.65, the latter of which was a season-best.

Jayson Loeffert (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland), pictured on the right, turned in Allegheny’s other first-place finishes of the day in the one-meter (279.30) and three-meter dives (316.0).

Four other Gators captured second-place finishes, including Kinney in 1,000-yard free (10:31.62), Robert Schreiner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) in the 200-yard free (1:52.18), Colin Gundling (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) in the 50-yard free (23.15), and Cory Monroy (Goleta, Calif/Dos Pueblos) in the 100-yard backstroke (58.84).

Allegheny’s men closed out the day by capturing first in the 200-yard freestyle relay behind the team of Lawrence, Schreiner, Gundling, and Sesek with a time of 1:30.29.

The meet was the final home showing in the careers of Allegheny seniors Lawrence, Loeffert, Dana Megowan (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley) and Schreiner for the men and Rachel Dingman (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley), Kramer, Emily Magoc (Natrona Heights, Pa./Highland), Nairn and Kerin Seidell (Granville, Ohio/Granville) for the women.

The Gators have next weekend off for preparation and will return to action at the North Coast Athletic Conference championship meet on Thursday-Saturday, February 14-16. All of the action will take place in Canton, Ohio.

Video of Allegheny's senior day meet is available below. Part one (senior day activities),
part two (first 75 minutes of competition), part three (final 48 minutes of competition).

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