Shippensburg University’s swimming teams lost at home against Clarion on Friday evening, with the men’s team losing 115-70 and the women by a score of 136-50. The results move each team to 3-4 on the season.
SU honored its eight seniors before the meet in a senior day ceremony. Seniors David Johnson, Nathan VanNatter, Zaidian Van Orden, Lauren Croll, Laurel Gingrich, Emma Grove, Emily Newton and Gracie Wetzel were each gifted authentic Hawaiian leis from Croll’s family, who are from Honolulu. It is a tradition the team has kept for each of Croll’s four seasons.
Graduate JC Greenwood shined on the men’s side of the meet for the Raiders, picking up a pair of Top 2 finishes in his events. He placed second in the 200-yard freestyle before winning the 500-yard freestyle in comeback fashion, passing Clarion’s George Horey to win the event by just 0.24 seconds with a time of 4:57.90.
Greenwood, a sixth-year member of the team, also spoke about the seniors honored at the meet, saying, “These guys came in after the COVID year and immediately gelled with us as freshman. They’ve done a really good job leading the team.”
Two other Raiders won events on the men’s side, both in freestyle events. Sophomore Robbie Ferlick was victorious in the 50-yard freestyle at 21.79 seconds, while sophomore Mason Koeth took the 100-yard freestyle at 47.81 seconds. Both also qualified for Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships (PSACs) with their times.
The other men’s team members to qualify for PSACs were freshman Josh Einolf, placing second in the 100-yard butterfly at 52.93 seconds, along with VanNatter with his time of 48.91 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle.
Both men’s “A” relay teams placed second in their events, with the 400-yard medley team of Koeth, VanNatter, Ferlick and Einoff finishing at 3:35.14. The 200-yard freestyle team of junior Kevin Noldy, Koeth, Ferlick and VanNatter earned a time of 1:27.48.
The women’s team could only muster one event win on the evening, coming from sophomore Charlee Shaw in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her time of 1:09.83 was both enough for first place and to qualify for PSACs.
Gingrich earned a pair of PSAC qualifiers in the meet, placing second in the 100-yard freestyle at 54.62 seconds and third in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:00.49. Freshman teammate Olivia Carter placed second in the same event at 1:59.79, also qualifying for PSACs.
The team finished the night with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of freshman Elyse Arnold, Gingrich, Croll and Wetzel clocking in at 1:41.82.
Both teams will have the next few weeks off before several members will compete in the Franklin & Marshall Invitational from Nov. 22-24.
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