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Gators Prepare for NCAC Finals
February 16, 2008
NCAC Championships Website
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Day 1 Preliminaries Story | Day 1 Finals Story
Men's Updated Season Bests List | Women's Updated Season Bests List
CANTON, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators added even more season and career bests, taking the two-and-a-half day totals to 52 season bests and 35 career bests on the men’s side and 62 season and 40 career bests for the women. Highlighting the morning session of the championships for the Gators was a near NCAA “B” cut in the 200-yard breaststroke by junior Erin Ham (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area), who swam to a time of 2:28.00, missing the nationals cut by .89 of a second.
The morning session started strongly, as Molly Hanlon (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area), the only Allegheny competitor in the 200 backstroke seeded herself in the “B” final after a preliminary race time of 2:20.17.
Senior Carolyn Nairn (Denver, Colo./Brownell-Talbot, Neb.) narrowly missed the “A” heat in the 100 freestyle, swimming to a time of 54.29, just .29 from the eighth preliminary finisher; however she now shares the “B” heat pool with teammates Ashley Whitehead (Meadville, Pa./Meadville Area) and Megan Knox (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel), both first-year Gators, as the duo swam to times of 55.21 and 55.50, respectively. Gina Major (Copley, Ohio/Copley) narrowly missed making the final spot of the “C” heat, swimming a time of 57.54, compared to the 57.09 swam by the 24th entrant into the finals.
Ham seeded herself fifth in the field in the 200 breaststroke with her time, while teammates Rachelle Barrett (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) and Alynn Maginness (Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) made the “B” heat of the finals with times of 2:36.67 and 2:41.42, respectively. Emily Magoc (Natrona Heights, Pa./Highlands) swam a season-best time of 2:45.62, qualifying in the middle of the “C” finals, giving the Gators a swimmer in all three final-night heats of the event.
The Gators put themselves in position to pick up a big score in the 200 butterfly, as the team has five of the eight swimmers in the “B” heat of the event. Junior Meg Hiestand (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) and freshman Katie Scherry (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) are seeded 11th and 12th after times of 2:15.40 and 2:16.61, respectively. Rachel Dingman (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley), Megan McGuire (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic), and Alycia Conway (Lyndhurst, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) round out the final three spots in the middle final after times of 2:20.27, 2:20.47 and 2:21.39, each.
In the final event of the championship’s preliminaries, the Gators seeded themselves fourth in the 400 freestyle relay, as the quartet of McGuire, Conway, Hanlon and Major swam to a time of 3:49.37.
Cory Monroy (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) swam to a time of 2:04.76 in the preliminaries, good enough to seed him 19th overall, and to compete in the “C” finals on the men’s side.
Senior Ryan Lawrence (Union City, Pa./Union City) swam the second fastest time of his career in the 100-yard freestyle; the only faster time by the senior came in a relay on Thursday. His time of 48.40 put him in the “B” heat of the finals, with teammate Rob Schreiner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) seeded 19th after his preliminary round time of 48.86.
Josh Sesek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood), a sophomore, is the only Gator on the men’s side to position himself into the “A” heat of the finals, as his time of 2:10.24 in the 200 breaststroke was not only the sixth fastest time in the field, it put him nearly a second and a half from the NCAA “B” cut for nationals. Sesek’s classmates Alex Smith (DuBois, Pa./DuBois Area) and Patrick Juber (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) each qualified for the “C” heat of finals, Smith swimming a career-low time of 2:22.89 and Juber a season-best 2:25.86, as the pair are seeded 18th and 20th, respectively.
Three Gators, Colin Gundling (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional), Schreiner and Evan Lewis (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius), advanced to the “C” finals in the 200 butterfly, with another, Adam Gailey (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area) narrowly missing the cut. Gundling leads the list, as he is seeded 20th after a 2:04.17 preliminary time, while Schreiner is not far behind with a time of 2:06.27, and is seeded 21st. Lewis and Gailey finished back-to-back, the former touching the wall in a time of 2:14.26 and the latter 2:15.02.
The men’s quartet of Gundling, Monroy, Sesek and Gailey teamed up to swim a time of 3:20.62, placing them in the “A” final in the 400 freestyle, the final event of the competition.
Final events start tonight at 6:30 p.m.