Shippensburg University’s men’s and women’s swimming teams competed at the 2025 Bison Invitational hosted by Bucknell University on Saturday to finish their regular season.
The meet served as the final chance for the Raiders to get in more races and times in various events before the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships in two weeks.
While some Raiders tried to clinch a PSAC qualifying mark in their last opportunity, others wanted to swim in new events and establish times. Athletes who have qualified for the championships in one event can enter in all the events they have competed in throughout the season.
According to graduate JC Greenwood, who competed in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, the goal for this meet was “to get a few final races in before the conference meet in two weeks.”
A highlight at the Bison Invitational was the men’s team successfully repeating the feat from last season to have every athlete on the team’s roster qualified for the conference meet.
Junior Carter Hawkes swam the 200-yard butterfly in 1:59.95, which was about 3.5 seconds faster than the qualifying standard in the event (2:03.62). Hawkes was the last Raider on the men’s side to qualify for the championships.
Other notable efforts on the men’s side came from sophomore Robbie Ferlick, who finished with the best times for SU in the 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle, and fellow sophomore Mason Koeth, who finished right behind Ferlick in those races.
On the women’s side, graduate Laurel Gingrich and freshman Olivia Carver highlighted the Raiders’ day with their respective performances.
Gingrich was the pacesetter for SU in four events, showing her versatility. She led the Raiders in the 200-yard individual medley (IM), the 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle.
Carver paced the Raiders in the 400-yard IM as well as the 200-yard freestyle.
Junior Hannah Hudson, who joined the Raiders over winter break, was the SU pacesetter in the 100-yard backstroke and swam a solid 200-yard IM.
The women’s team has 16 athletes qualified for the conference championships, as no athlete earned a conference qualifying mark who was not already qualified for the meet.
Overall, both teams showed effort and had a good meet, according to Greenwood, as they are getting ready for the PSAC meet.
“[We] did not worry about the times since we are training through and getting ready to taper off for the conference meet,” Greenwood said.
The 2025 PSAC championships will be held at the Graham Aquatic Center in York from Monday, Feb. 17, through Thursday, Feb. 20.
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