Lane 9 News Archive: Middle Atlantic Conference Championships

Middle Atlantic Conference Championships -- February 11, 2008

"Our seniors have never lost in the MAC, and our younger swimmers are looking to carry the tradition." - John Stuhltrager

By Brian Savard

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania, February 11. AT the meet's conclusion, the verdict came out on questions posed about the potency of the reformed Middle Atlantic Conference, and it reinforced the notion that the MAC is one of the most respected Division III conferences in the Middle Atlantic region.

Team Scores

For the fourth-straight year, and for the seventh time this decade, the Albright women emerged victorious. Albright amassed 753 points throughout the three-day meet, and Albright head coach John Stuhltrager received the women's Coach of the Year award.

"The award's a credit to our girls," Stuhltrager said. "Our seniors have never lost in the MAC, and our younger swimmers are looking to carry the tradition."

Misericordia debuted in its first MAC championship, taking second with 602 points. Lycoming placed third with 464 points.

On the men's side, Widener corralled the team title with a whopping 869 points, and with the win, Widener head coach Bob Piotti took home the Coach of the Year award.

Albright finished up in second with 614 points while Lycoming brought home the third-place honor with 438 points.

Women's Individual Results

200 freestyle relay
Misericordia shocked the conference by kicking off the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Alicia Bryk, Jessie Williamson, Erin Schneck and Elisa Kennedy recorded a gold-medal standard of 1:40.95. Albright posted a 1:42.75 and took second while Lycoming snagged the third-place spot (1:44.45).

500 freestyle
Albright took first through fourth place in the 500, responding to an upset victory in the 200 freestyle relay. Albright's Sarah Noonan emerged victorious in the 500, clocking a 5:26.61. Adrienne Peoples of Albright placed second (5:28.53) while Tara McAdams of Albright took third (5:30.58).

200 IM
Rachel Cantwell of Albright won the 200 IM for the fourth-straight year, touching in 2:11.77. Cantwell was named the most valuable female swimmer of the meet at the conclusion of the meet, marking her fourth-straight year of taking the David B. Eavenson award, a conference record for number of years winning the most valuable swimmer award.

"I was really nervous and excited at the same time before the 200 IM," Cantwell said. "I didn't do all that well in it all season, so it was nice to hit a 2:11 at champs."

Alaina Trent of Misericordia clocked a second-place 2:16.30 while Jess Williams of Albright rounded out the top three finishers with a 2:17.73.

50 freestyle
Lindsey Riley of Elizabethtown mounted the first-place podium for the first time in her collegiate career in the 50 freestyle, winning with a time of 25.41.

Stacy Flick of Lycoming (25.55) edged out Bryk (25.67) for second.

400 medley relay
Cassie Ritchey, Cantwell, Cheyenne Gehman and Lauren Onusko easily won the 400 medley relay for Albright, stopping the clock at 4:05.67. Widener snuck in for second place (4:11.76) while Misericordia settled for third (4:12.02).

200 medley relay
Albright started the second day of competition the way it ended it on day one, winning the 200 medley relay in 1:52.12 with the contingent of Ritchey, Cantwell, Gehman and Allison Fies. Misericordia touched shortly afterward for second (1:53.23) while Lycoming edged out Widener for third with a 1:54.85.

400 IM
Molly Bendzyn of Widener, who received the women's swimmer of the meet award, cruised to a 4:47.98 win in the 400 IM. Jess Williams nailed down the second-place honor with a 4:49.50 while Milvana Ban of Lycoming came in third (4:52.65).

100 butterfly
Gehman captured her fourth-straight 100 butterfly title with a 1:00.32 finish. McAdams took second with a 1:01.58 while Misericordia's Rachel Blass corralled third (1:01.91).

200 freestyle
Fies stood as the only female to break the two-minute barrier, clocking an event-best 1:58.57. Trent touched second in 2:01.75 while Misericordia's Abby Kocun placed third (2:04.10).

100 breaststroke
Cantwell's second win of the meet did not come easy, as two worthy competitors tested her to the finish.

Cantwell emerged victorious with a 1:08.15, surviving a surge from Elizabethtown's Gretchen Geiger in the final 50 yards of the event. Geiger touched in 1:08.22. Flick also broke the 1:10 mark, turning in a third-place time of 1:09.08.

100 backstroke
Bendzyn returned in the 100 backstroke, her third of four events on the evening, and won with a time of 1:01.57. Ritchey recorded the event's second-best time (1:02.29) while Lycoming's Nicole Zoller captured the bronze with a 1:02.59.

800 freestyle relay
Despite two strong final legs, Misericordia was unable to catch Albright, as the Lion contingent of Fies, Noonan, Jess Williams and Cantwell posted the gold standard of 8:13.46. Misericordia placed second with an 8:18.82 while Elizabethtown slipped in for third with an 8:30.41.

1650 freestyle
Peoples got off to an early lead in the mile, and she held on to win the event in 18:36.94. Albright completed the top-three sweep with Noonan placing second (18:49.95) and Kelly Williams placing third (18:51.75).

200 backstroke
Bendzyn took the 200 backstroke with ease, clocking a 2:12.25. Trent's third 50 made the difference for second place, as she edged out Ritchie with a 2:15.46. Ritchie put up a third-place standard of 2:15.57.

100 freestyle
Fies picked up her second individual gold with a victory in the 100 freestyle (55.48). Kocon touched second in 55.89, and Riley picked up third with a 56.14 clocking.

200 breaststroke
Cantwell notched her third win of the meet and an National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship provisional qualifying standard with a 2:26.85 performance in the 200 breaststroke.

Geiger tightened Cantwell's lead again in the 200 breaststroke but fell just short of first place. She clocked a 2:27.50. Flick rounded out the top three with a 2:32.95 swim.

200 butterfly
Albright again swept the top three spots in the 200 butterfly with the three-time gold medalist in the event, Gehman, leading the pack with a 2:14.93. McAdams followed closely behind with a 2:15.30 swim while Jess Williams conjured up a third-place finish (2:16.35).

400 freestyle relay
The meet's final event stamped Albright's legacy, as the foursome of Gehman, Cantwell, Ritchey and Fies outlasted an energized Misericordia squad with a 3:43.71 win. Misericordia clocked a second-place mark of 3:44.02 while Widener snatched up third (3:44.02).

Stuhltrager said that he looks for the Albright dynasty to continue, despite losing top guns such as Cantwell, Gehman and Ritchie.

"We'll be good for years to come with the freshmen we have," Stuhltrager said. "We have good swimmers. And with good swimmers, you attract more good swimmers. Everyone wants to be a part of a winning program."

Men's Individual Results

200 freestyle relay
Widener's foursome of Pete Fischer, Jesse Bregman, John Kiely and Kevin Adair foreshadowed the relay successes to come with a 1:26.61 triumph in the 200 freestyle relay. Albright came in second with a 1:27.93 while Lycoming clocked a 1:30.12 and placed third.

500 freestyle
Eric Kramer of Albright, a former small-school swimmer who shed tons of time in each event he swam, picked up his first of three individual event wins with a 4:43.13 win in the 500 freestyle. Kramer would later go on to receive the David B. Eavenson Swimmer of the Meet award.

Matt Slomiany of Widener cruised into the wall second in 4:46.99 while Chris Miller of Elizabethtown took third (4:50.07).

200 IM
The meet's most exciting event came in the 200 IM, where both a gold medal and a conference record were at stake.

Chris Sheerer of Albright busted out a quick final 50 freestyle, edging out Widener's Kevin Carson by .02 with a 1:55.69 time. Carson set the former conference record two seasons prior with a 1:56.60 time.

Carson, despite a second wind in the breaststroke leg, settled for second with a 1:55.71. Kiely placed third with a 2:01.93.

50 freestyle
Fischer mined gold in the two-lap sprint, snagging first in 22.24. Ryan Adamson of Lycoming placed second (22.32) while Bregman took home the bronze in 22.36.

400 medley relay
Shawn McDevitt, Slomiany, Carson and Bregman reeled in another win for Widener by means of the 400 medley relay, taking first in 3:33.65. Albright picked up second with a 3:36.55 while Elizabethtown took third (3:42.48).

200 medley relay
Day two started out with more of the same, as McDevitt, Steven Goss, Carson and Fischer brought in another win for Widener, clocking 1:37.13. Albright picked up second (1:38.50) while Misericordia eked out Elizabethtown for third (1:41.23).

400 IM
Slomiany set a conference record with his preliminary swim of 4:12.17. He returned at night with a 4:12.96, a standard good enough for first by more than 10 seconds. Joe Veselovsky of Scranton set the former mark last year with a time of 4:13.02.

Kevin Carney of Lebanon Valley touched second in 4:25.56 while Nick Cannizzaro from Misericordia brought up the third-place spot (4:30.17).

"I felt pretty good in my IM," Slomiany said. "I wanted to go after it in the morning to feel confident in the event at night. My butterfly felt strong, my backstroke and breaststroke [legs] were ok and I felt like I had a lot left at the end."

100 butterfly
Carson tied his own conference record that he set in 2005 with a 51.61 win in the 100 butterfly. Mike Stoloski from Albright nabbed the silver medal (52.92) while his teammate, Matt O'Neill, placed third (53.58).

200 freestyle
Kramer snatched up win No. 2 with a 1:45.21 effort in the 200 freestyle. Kiely garnered the second-place honor while Albright's Adam Daney came in third (1:47.44).

100 breaststroke
Goss overtook Misericordia's Jeff Clark on the final 50 of the 100 breaststroke, and he won with a 1:00.60 standard. Clark settled for second with a 1:00.67 time while Eric Stencovage of King's put up a 1:02.33 for third place.

100 backstroke
Miller picked up a provisional NCAA Championship qualifying time in the 100 backstroke as he punched out with a 52.57. Sheerer nearly missed the provisional qualifier, clocking a 52.90 second-place time. Sean Houser of Lycoming took third with a 53.55.

800 freestyle relay
Even though the foursome of Carson, Bregman, Slomiany and Kiely fell six seconds short of the conference record, Widener still outperformed the competition with a 7:06.09 clocking. Albright took the runner-up honors with a 7:12.42 while Lycoming reeled in a third-place finish (7:31.12).

1650 freestyle
The lead changed three times in the 66-lap event, but in the end, Kramer solidified his swimmer of the meet honor with a third win (16:41.58). Slomiany stayed close to Kramer, despite falling behind after the 800 yard mark, and picked up the second-place spot with a 16:47.99. Carney, who started out with the fastest first 100, finished third with a 17:06.06.

200 backstroke
Miller narrowly missed the provisional time in the 200 backstroke, winning the event nonetheless in 1:54.85. Sheerer turned in a second-place performance (1:56.90) while McDevitt took third (2:00.35).

100 freestyle
Kiely edged out a close 100 freestyle field, posting the top time of 48.73. Bregman and McDevitt completed the one-two-three Widener sweep with second and third place times of 49.07 and 49.26, respectively.

200 breaststroke
Clark easily pulled out a win in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:13.49. Dan McGuigan of Elizabethtown placed second (2:20.03) while Jordan Hash of Albright finished third (2:20.98).

200 butterfly
Carson fell off of record pace on the final lap of the 200 butterfly, but he brought home the gold nonetheless with a 1:55.34. Stoloski picked up the second-place spot (1:59.03) while O'Neill captured third (2:03.41).

400 freestyle relay
Widener outperformed Albright in the meet's final event, as the foursome of McDevitt, Bregman, Carson and Kiely knocked out a 3:11.68 swim. Albright fell closely behind with a second-place time of 3:12.35 while Lycoming picked up third (3:19.81).

Results: Middle Atlantic Conference Championships

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