Shippensburg University´s men´s swimming team competed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships in York from Wednesday to Saturday and took home sixth place.
At the PSAC Championships, the athletes swim preliminary rounds in the morning, and the qualified athletes swim in the consolation final or the championship final the same evening.
On the first day, graduate Andrew Hale qualified for the consolation final in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) and placed fourth. Overall, Hale placed 12th with a time of 1:53.93 in finals.
Sophomore David Johnson contributed place 16 in the 1,000-yard freestyle in the timed finals session from the morning, where he swam 9:55.50 minutes. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Johnson teamed up with redshirt-junior JC Greenwood and sophomores Zaidian Van Orden and Nathan VanNatter and placed sixth with a time of 7:01.53.
On Thursday morning, junior Michael Salvatori qualified for the consolation finals in the 400-yard IM, where he placed second, and 10th overall, in 4:05.93 minutes.
None of the Raiders qualified for the finals in the 100-yard butterfly or the 200-yard freestyle, despite a personal best from Van Orden in the 100-yard butterfly.
In the evening, SU still had solid relay performances. The 200-yard freestyle relay, made up of senior Elijah Zinn, VanNatter, Van Orden and Hale, placed seventh in 1:26.49. In the 400-yard medley relay, the quartet of Hale, graduate Vin Salvatore, senior Alec Burger and Van Orden delivered a seventh-place time of 3:31.12.
On Friday, three Raiders advanced to the finals.
Hale reached the championship final in the 100-yard breaststroke and placed seventh in 57.43 seconds.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Salvatore shattered his previous personal best by two seconds and placed 11th overall with a time of 1:53.84.
Salvatori finished the 500-yard freestyle in the consolation final in 4:46.18 and took 15th place.
Multiple athletes recorded new personal bests in the 100-yard backstroke, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard butterfly, but the times were not enough to qualify for the finals.
Hale, Salvatore, Burger and Zinn competed in the 200-yard medley relay and placed seventh in 1:35.16.
On Saturday, the final day of competition, seven Raiders scored points for the team.
Three athletes qualified for the consolation final in the 200-yard breaststroke, which was won by Hale in 2:04.82. Salvatore placed 10th overall with a new personal best of 2:08.73 and freshman Nate Wauls placed 15th overall in 2:12.12.
Johnson placed sixth with a new personal best of 16:21.40 in the 1,650-yard freestyle, and Greenwood placed 13th in the same event.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Salvatori finished the championship final in seventh place with a time of 1:53.57. Salvatori qualified for the final with a new personal record of 1:52.58, which puts him third in the all-time list of SU in the event.
Senior David Bussard recorded place 16 in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:57.07.
VanNatter, Van Orden, Zinn and Johnson teamed up in the final event of the meet and placed seventh in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.49 minutes.
The PSAC Championships concluded the season for Shippensburg´s men´s swimming team.
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