Shippensburg University’s swimming teams competed at the Graham Aquatic Center last week for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships. The men’s team placed sixth and the women’s team placed ninth. 

For the second year in a row, the men’s team had their entire 15-man squad qualify and compete. The class breakdown was one graduate student, three seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen.

The women’s team had 17 swimmers travel and compete. The class breakdown was one graduate student, three seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. 

Day one started off well for the Raiders, with five scoring performances from the men’s team and two podium finishes from the women’s team. 

Junior Kevin Noldy achieved a lifetime best of 21.09 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle to earn ninth overall. He joined SU’s record book as the fifth all-time in that event. Sophomore Robbie Ferlick also competed in the 50-yard freestyle and finished 12th overall. 

In the 1,000-yard freestyle, Graduate JC Greenwood and junior Carter Hawkes finished 14th and 16th, respectively. 

The last scoring performance for the men’s team came from the quartet of Ferlick, sophomore Mason Koeth, senior David Johnson and senior Nathan VanNatter. 

On the women’s side, Graduate Laurel Gingrich had an electric start to the meet with a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. 

Freshman Olivia Carver swam her way to sixth overall in the 1,000-yard freestyle and earned her spot in the record book as SU’s seventh all-time best in that event. 

Sophomore Michelle Kubiak also had a scoring performance on day one, scoring 20th overall in the 200-yard IM. 

Day two kept the Raiders momentum with the men’s grabbing two scoring performances and the women’s earning four individual scoring performances. 

Freshman Josh Einolf had an impressive outing in the 100-yard butterfly. He crushed his times from the season and in the finals, he became the second Raider to ever break 50 seconds in the event. He ended up winning the ‘B’ final and placed ninth overall. 

Senior David Johnson finished 16th overall in the ‘B’ final of the 400-yard IM at 4:15.70

Gingrich continued to stun with a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly final. With a time of 57.21, she moved to fourth all-time in school history. 

In the 400-yard IM, Carver, Kubiak, and Senior Gracie Wetzel earned 12th, 15th, and 20th place, respectively. Carver and Kubiak achieved lifetime bests with Carver swimming a 4:41.86 and Kubiak swimming a 4:45.74. 

Moving to day three, both teams shattered school records. 

On the men’s side, the quartet of Noldy, Ferlick, sophomore Connor Ludwig and VanNatter earned a time of 1:22.80 to break the 35-year-old school record for the 200 free relay. 

Earlier that day, another quartet of Koeth, freshman Kiran George, Einolf and Ferlick nearly broke another school record for the 200-yard medley relay, but they were 0.3 seconds away. They were able to take fourth overall at 1:32.69.

On the women’s side, Gingrich, taking her fourth run at the 50-yard freestyle, broke the school record at 23.22 seconds.

The final day marked the final competition for Greenwood, VanNatter, Johnson, Zaidian Van Orden, Emily Newton, Lauren Croll and Wetzel. 

Hawkes and Greenwood competed in the early morning and earned scoring performances in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Hawks delivered a lifetime best and grabbed 133rd place and Greenwood followed close behind in 14th place. 

VanNatter swam two lifetime bests in the 100-yard freestyle. He etched his name into ninth place in school history. 

The Koeth, George, Einolf and Ferlick quartet who reached for the 200-yard medley relay school record on Wednesday achieved their goal by Thursday night. They broke a 1:32.16 to shatter the school record.

Carver found her way to ninth of SU’s all-time with a lifetime best in 1,650-yard freestyle. It was the best finish by a Raider in that event in over a decade. 

Sitkowski also performed well in the 1,650-yard freestyle, achieving a lifetime best and scoring performance. 

Croll and Wetzel completed their careers with lifetime bests in the 200-yard breaststroke. Croll finished 13th and Wetzel followed in 14th. 

Gingrich broke another school record in the 100-yard freestyle. She posted an All-PSAC second place finish with a 51.14-second swim. 

She hopes to extend her career as the only Raider with NCAA ‘B’ cut this season. She awaits the announcement of the NCAA Championships qualifiers next week.  

The men’s team ends their season 4-3 and the women’s team end their season 3-5. 

Share