Gators in Action at NCAC Day 2

Feb 15, 2008

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CANTON, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators came back after a strong first-day performance at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, hosted at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, to set 18 more personal and 35 season bests, setting up for the women to keep hold of their third place standing and the men to move up overall.

The women’s 200-yard medley relay started off the second day by finishing with the second best time in the field heading into the championships, as the team of Carolyn Nairn (Denver, Colo./Brownell-Talbot, Neb.), Erin Ham (Franklin, Pa./Franklin), Katie Scherry (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) and Ashley Whitehead (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area) swam to a time of 1:51.51, just over two seconds from the school record set by Marci Hennessey, Kelly Diel, Kate Thoman and Maureen Pritchard in 1991.

In the 400 individual medley, first-year Rachelle Barrett (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) placed herself in the second heat of the finals, just missing out on her career best, swimming a time of 5:00.95. Teammates Rachel Dingman (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valey) and Emily Magoc (Natrona Heights, Pa./Highland) will be swimming in the “C” heat of the finals, as Dingman swam a time of 5:03.08 and Magoc 5:13.52, each of those times marking season bests.

Scherry, Meg Hiestand (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights), and Megan McGuire (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) each put themselves in the “B” heat of the 100 butterfly, swimming times of 1:01.30, 1:01.48 and 1:02.14, respectively, McGuire’s representing a new career-best. Three more Gators, Alycia Conway (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Gilmour Academy), Dingman and Whitehead, advanced to the “C” heat of the event, Conway swimming a career-low time of 1:02.99, Dingman in a time of 1:04.43 and Whitehead in a time of 1:04.74, the first time she has swam the event as a Gator.

In the 200 free, Megan Knox (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) posted a career-best time of 1:58.53, placing the freshmen at #10 in the “B” heat of the finals. Three other Gators qualified for the finals as well, including Arielle Conti (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) with the 15th best time for the “B” heat and the duo of Gina Major (Copley, Ohio/Copley) and Molly Hanlon (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area), who finished 23rd and 24th with respective times of 2:04.24 and 2:04.26. Tara Stein (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) and Kelly Marker (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) also competed and just missed the finals, but did set career-best times by finishing in 2:05.23 and 2:06.56, respectively.

Ham turned in her top finish of the first two days by placing fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke and just missed out on an NCAA “B” cut (1:07.59) qualifying mark with a time of 1:07.78. One of the swimmers ahead of Ham earned an automatic qualifier to Nationals while the second and third place finishers earned provisional marks. Alynn Maginness (Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) also competed and qualified for the finals with a season-best time of 1:13.39, good for 15th place.

Nairn would just miss the “A” heat in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing ninth in a career-best 1:01.36 while Marker placed 18th with a personal-best time of 1:07.19. Kaitlin McGrogran also competed but did not qualify for the finals despite touching the wall in a personal-best time of 1:14.10.

The men’s trio of Ashton Kinney (Sewickley, Pa./Sewickley Academy), Patrick Juber (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) and Alex Smith (DuBois, Pa./DuBois Area) finished with the 23rd, 24th and 25th fastest times heading into the finals; 4:34.12, 4:37.18 and 4:42.61, respectively; with the first two making the “C” heat of the finals, and Smith narrowly missing a scoring opportunity. The latter of the two times were career bests, while Kinney’s was his fastest time this season. Also not making the finals but swimming a career-low was Dana Megowan (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley), who topped his previous career high by six seconds in the event.

Rob Schreiner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and Colin Gundling (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) placed back-to-back, placing themselves in 19th and 20th position heading into the championship rounds after times of 54.10 and 54.50 in the 100 butterfly, Gundling’s marking the top time in his career.

A quartet of Gators set personal-bests in the 200-yard freestyle with Ryan Lawrence (Union City, Pa./Union City) placing 12th in a time of 1:47.05, Beau Whiteman (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) 17th in a time of 1:49.35, Adam Gailey (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) 23rd with a time of 1:55.66, and J.P. Russell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Sewickley Academy) 27th with a time of 2:04.44. Allegheny’s first three finishers in the event all qualified for the finals.

Josh Sesek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) just missed the “A” heat of the 100-yard breaststroke finals after placing ninth with a time of 1:00.22 while Smith finished 23rd in a time of 1:05.27, qualifying him for the “C” heat of the finals.

Cory Monroy (Goleta, Calif./Dos Peublos) qualified for the finals in the 100-yard back with an 18th place finish of 56.35.

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