Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships: Day Three

MECHANICSBURG, Pennsylvania, February 21. THE West Chester women's swimming team edged in front of Clarion on Saturday and hold a slim lead of 33.5 points over the second place Golden Eagles while the Golden Ram men opened up a large lead of nearly 200 points and appear to have wrapped up another league championship with just one day remaining at the 2009 PSAC Swimming Championships.

Both Clarion and West Chester won three individual event titles on Saturday on the women's side, while California (Pa.), which is in third place, won the other event. The West Chester men won six of the seven individual events contested on Saturday. IUP took first in the other.

Clarion's women started out the day with another first place finish in a relay event, winning the 200 medley relay by over a second over second place West Chester. The team of Courtney Bogue, Denise Simens, Kaitlyn Johnson and Gina Mattucci set a new PSAC meet and overall record by touching the wall in 1:44.81. Johnson also took first place in the 100 butterfly with an NCAA qualifying time of :56.04. Only one other Golden Eagle picked up points in the 100 fly, however, and three Golden Rams placed in the top eight.

In the 100 breaststroke, the Golden Eagles took the top two spots, with Simens winning and Kelly Connolly taking second, both in NCAA automatic qualifying times.

West Chester took first in the other relay event of the day, with the Golden Rams blowing away the field in the 800 free relay, winning by over 15 seconds in 7:31.25, a new PSAC meet record. Jackie Borkowski, took first place in the 100 backstroke in a new PSAC record time of :55.56, her second individual first place finish of the meet. That swim came just before she anchored the 800 free relay team to victory. Erin Fisher of West Chester took first place in the 400 IM.

Cal's Ester Bosch also won her second individual event title of the meet as she took first place in the 200 free in a new PSAC meet record of 1:50.59. She also won the 500 free last night.

On the men's side, West Chester dominated once again, not only winning six of seven events but winning a few by a large margin. In the 400 IM, Max Bernardes set a new PSAC meet record by swimming a time of 3:59.43, easily an NCAA automatic qualifying time and nearly 10 seconds in front of the second place finisher. The 800 free relay team of Kenny McCormick, Bernardes, Rod King and Brendan Fanslau also won by nearly 10 seconds, winning in a PSAC meet record time of 6:45.78.

The Golden Rams dominated the 100 butterfly, taking the top four places, led by first place finisher Phil Luzny, who touched the wall in :50.07. West Chester also took the top two spots in the 200 free, led by winner Matt Golebiewski's winning time of 1:39.19. Peter Madueno won the 100 breaststroke in :58.24. The 200 medley relay team also took first in 1:33.32.

IUP's Pawel Glowiak successfully defended his individual title in the 100 backstroke, winning in :50.61, an NCAA automatic qualifying time and the only swimmer to swim such a time in that event.

The Golden Ram men now have 577 points. Clarion is a distant second with 383 while Shippensburg remains in the hunt for second place with 355. On the women's side, it will be an exciting battle between West Chester and Clarion tomorrow for first place with the Golden Rams entering Sunday with 438.5 points and Clarion just behind with 405. California (Pa.) remains in third place with 342 points.

Special thanks to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference for contributing this report.

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