Shippensburg University´s women´s swimming finished in eighth place after competing at the Pennsylvania Athletic State Conference (PSAC) Championships in York from Wednesday to Saturday.

At the PSAC Championships, the athletes swim morning preliminaries, where they can qualify for the championship, consolation or pre-consolation finals in the evening.

On the first day of the meet, SU had multiple athletes in the finals and recorded multiple personal bests.

In the 200-yard individual medley (IM), three Raiders reached the finals after the morning preliminary round. Junior Alyssa Tomb swam 2:09.32 in the championship final and placed eighth overall. Fellow juniors Michaela Hersh and Marissa Bittner reached the consolation finals, where Hersh placed 12th. Bittner already swam a personal best to qualify for the consolation final, and improved her best once more in the final to finish 14th in 2:10.71.

In total, 11 women competed in the 200-yard IM for Shippensburg and multiple recorded personal bests but missed the finals.

Sophomore Allie Keeling finished 11th in the 1,000-yard freestyle timed finals with a time of 10:38.99.

Sophomore Lauren Croll qualified for the pre-consolation finals and finished in 23rd place in the 50-yard freestyle.

Concluding Day 1, Bittner, Hersh, Keeling and freshman Grace Reagan placed ninth in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

On Thursday, two Raiders reached the championship final in the 400-yard IM.

Tomb improved her personal best in the preliminary and in the final, finishing fourth in 4:33.24. Hersh improved her season best to take fifth place behind Tomb in 4:36.73.

Sophomore Gracie Wetzel finished 21st overall, competing in the pre-consolation finals, in 4:51.60.

Keeling placed 17th in the 200-yard freestyle after winning the pre-consolation final in 1:56.41.

The 400-yard medley relay placed eight in 4:01.58, with Bittner, freshman Lana Brown, Hersh and Croll swimming for the Raiders.

Brown, Croll, junior Sammy Taylor and senior Marina Cote swam in the 200-yard freestyle relay and finished ninth in 1:41.25.

The third day of competition was also successful for SU.

Hersh placed sixth in the championship final of the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:09.36.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Keeling placed 10th, after swimming 5:10.94 in the consolation final.

The Raiders had four women score in the 100-yard breaststroke. Bittner placed 10th, and Brown finished 14th with a new personal record of 1:00.23. Taylor took place 19 and Reagan delivered a personal best of 1:01.82 to place 21st. 

Three Raiders placed in the pre-consolation final in the 100-yard breaststroke: Tomb finished 18th with a personal best of 1:07.74, Croll placed 19th and sophomore Emily Newton took place 22.

Sophomore Gwen Elsey scored in the 200-yard butterfly with the 24th place.

The 200-yard medley relay – made up by Bittner, Brown, sophomore Kristin Gebhard and Croll — finished 10th in 1:50.71.

On the last day of the meet, the Raiders had eight more individual scoring performances.

All four athletes in the 200-yard backstroke scored and were led by Bittner, who placed seventh in the championship final, after swimming a personal best in the morning preliminaries.

Hersh won the consolation final in a two-second personal best of 2:06.51. Brown placed 16th and Reagan placed 22nd after swimming a new personal best in the morning preliminaries.

Tomb swam to another personal best at the PSAC meet in the 200-yard breaststroke prelim with a time of 2:23.41, which got her into the championship final. Tomb finished eighth overall, while Newton placed 22nd overall after completing the pre-consolation final in 2:21.48.

In the 1,650-yard freestyle, the Raiders had two more scorers. Keeling placed 10th in 17:59.01 and Cote finished 20th with a time of 18:43.02.

The Raiders 400-yard freestyle relay with Wetzel, Keeling, Taylor and Tomb concluded the meet with a 10th-place finish in 3:39.54.

The PSAC Championships concluded the season for SU´s women´s swimming team.

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