West Chester Women, Shippensburg Men Lead After First Day of PSAC Championships

MECHANICSBURG, Pennsylvania, February 22. WITH five swimmers finishing in the top-10 of the 1,000-yard freestyle, West Chester finds itself atop the women's standings after the first day of competition at the 2007 PSAC Swimming Championships Thursday at Cumberland Valley High School Natatorium.

Meanwhile, Shippensburg currently leads the men's championship with 56 points, 18 ahead of defending champion West Chester. Senior Mike Owen (Carlisle/Big Spring), who was seeded third in the 1,000 free, set a new conference meet record while winning his second consecutive title in a time of 9:31.92 which was also an NCAA "B' cut time.

West Chester sophomore Katie Brosseau (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville) won her first individual conference championship by finishing first in the 1,000 free in a time 10:28.95 to lead a 1-2 Golden Ram finish as freshman Danielle Ierley (York/Dallastown) came in second in 10:30.46, 30 seconds below her seeded time of 11:00.17.

The top nine finishers in the women's 1,000 free all posted NCAA "B" cut times and all, with the exception of Brosseau, improved upon their seeded times in what has shown itself to be a "fast" pool.

The Golden Rams are followed in the standings by Indiana (Pa.) who has 27 points as junior Heidi Mitskavich (Euclid, Ohio/Notre Dame) led the Crimson Hawks with a fourth-place finish, one spot ahead of her fifth-place finish a year ago. Defending and 26-time champion Clarion is third with 25 points while Bloomsburg (21) and Shippensburg (11) round out the top-five. Edinboro is sixth.

In other women's action Thursday night, the Shippensburg 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Whitney Garner (Manheim/Manheim Central), senior Jill Snyder (Muhlenberg/Reading), sophomore Mandi Foltz (Macungie/Emmaus) and junior Kelcie Baber (Allentown/Parkland) teamed up to post a time trial mark of 1:47.93 to qualify for the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships next month.

Owen was one of three Red Raiders to finish in the top-eight while West Chester and Clarion each had two. West Chester sophomore Cody Clauser (Media/Penncrest), who was seeded second in the event, placed second behind Owen for the second-straight year in 9:34.14.

Shippensburg freshman Shane Wolter (Clarksville, Md.) was third, ahead of Clarion freshman Drew Soisson (Mechanicsburg/Trinity) and West Chester senior Mark Iwans (Emmaus/Emmaus). Iwans was the top-seed entering Thursday night's competition while Soisson was swimming in his hometown, just down the road from his high school alma mater.

West Chester is second with 38 points, followed by Clarion (28), Kutztown (20) and Edinboro (10). Bloomsburg and Indiana (Pa.) are sixth and seventh, respectively.

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