Presidents’ Athletic Conference Swimming Teams Back in Action at Winter Invites

By James Bossert, Swimming World College Intern

GROVE CITY – All the teams are back in action this weekend after a well needed Thanksgiving break in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving. PAC swimming and diving teams include Bethany College, Chatham University, Grove City College, St. Vincent College, Washington & Jefferson College and Westminster College.

PAC Showdown of the Week

The St. Vincent Bearcats host the Washington & Jefferson Presidents’ in the only PAC duel meet of the week. The Bearcats are fresh off their mid-season taper meet where Andy Moog, Matt Crum, Marla Turk and Marissa Frollo shot to the front of the PAC top times list.

Moog sweeps the top spot in the breaststrokes, Crum becomes the leader in the mile besting teammate Adam Gordish by 27 seconds and breaking his own school record, Turk moved to first in the IM’s (200-2:14.88; 400- 4:40.10) and second in the 500 behind Grove City’s Megan Smith. “We were really happy with Marla’s 400 IM in the morning where she went a 4:52,” St. Vincent coach Josh Gurekovich said, “but we had no idea what was in store for her finals swim where she dropped 12 seconds!”

Frollo leads the 50 free by almost a half second, 24.59 to 25.05, over teammate Alexis Ferraco and takes over the top stop in the 100 free from Jessica Sweitzer of Washington and Jefferson (W&J). The battle between Frollo and Sweitzer in the 100 will highlight the women’s meet, especially when the 100 is the meeting point for them. Frollo swims the 50 and the 100, while Sweitzer normally swims the 100 and 200.

“Our team swam exceptional at the invitational, but this weekend against W&J is a big meet for our team.” Gurekovich says. “Over the last couple of years it seems like the meet is decided by one or two races for both the men and the women.”

St. Vincent brought in a very talented freshman class for both the men and women’s teams providing Gurekovich with more depth, especially on the men’s side. “Instead of just throwing guys into events to grab one or two points like in past years, having a bigger men’s roster will help us out tremendously. We are able to put in about three people in every event for both men and women.”

W&J’s Chris Ratliff will battle with Zach Ligus in the sprint freestyles if Ligus swims those events. Ligus is so versatile, he leads the conference in five events with the potential for more if he had swam more events, and he has the potential to win any event he is entered in.

Nick Willison and Ben Mancini will look to start winning events again as they are both back to swimming full time. Willison has been known to close his backstroke races with a lot of speed while Mancini is an even keel distance swimmer known for not panicking when his opponents take out their races fast than him, knowing he has the endurance to keep up with almost any pace set.

When asked how he thinks the meet will play out, Gurekovich offered praise to W&J for “bringing in some great talent” and noted that “this should be a fun and exciting meet, as all conference meets are, just like the last couple of years. We will need everyone to race hard so we can finish off the fall semester with wins.”

Bethany Bison

Bethany returns to action with both the men and women travelling to Hiram College to take on the Terriers. Jeremy Starr, the reigning PAC Swimmer of the week, leads the men as they hope to continue their red hot start to the season.

Sitting at 8-1, the men have the most wins and second best win percentage (trailing only Westminster’s men at 5-0) in the conference.

Brandon Martell continues his dominance on the boards, not losing yet this year and is place to challenge for the conference titles in February.

School record breaker Marina Baker and Alaina Geer have paced the women to a winning record of 6-4. They split the freestyles, Baker the sprints while Geer likes the longer distances. A combined four individual wins this weekend would not come as a surprise as Baker seems to have her way most every week.

Wooster Invitational

Chatham and Westminster travel to the College of Wooster for their mid-season invitational meet. Alexis Rectenwald and Katie Lee lead the Cougars into the meet with Rectenwald pulling double duty by swimming and diving at numerous meets this year.

Already having broken her own natatorium record and school records this year on 1- meter, she will look to qualify for the NCAA regionals on both boards after already achieving it once on 1-meter. Lee is putting together quite the freshman campaign as he is fifth in the conference in the 100 back (1:03.14). This meet will be a good indication of just how well Lee is adapting to collegiate swimming.

The Titans are already been swimming fast this year and look to push their relays to the top of the conference top times. Mitch Stahara will certainly see some second swims in the final heat in his specialty freestyle events (100-500), while backstroker Steven Brooks and breaststroker Matt Baurle will try to improve on their already fast in-season swims and grab NCAA “B” cuts just as they did last year.

The men will rely on the Pletz brothers both of which are vital to the relays. Jake, the elder brother, will battle with Stahara to lock in finals spots at night in the mid-distance freestyles while younger brother Dan, the defending conference champion in the individual medleys, can show how he can swim any event under 200 yards and be competitive.

Sara Piece and Sam Tower make up the two-headed breaststroke monster for the Titan women that have numerous swimmers in the top 10 of every event in the conference top times list. Look for one of these two along with backstroker Kelsey Reott, flyer Rebecca Mobley and sprint freestyler Ashley Wyland to put together some very fast medley relays and try to top the Fighting Scots in a rematch of their duel meet loss only two weeks ago.

Kenyon Total Performance Invitational

Grove City travels to Kenyon College for their mid-season invitational. Taking on the defending Division III men’s champion Kenyon College, Division I schools University of Pennsylvania and Davidson College as well as DePauw College,

John Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University, the Wolverines will be looking to finally getting some rest and put together solid swims to challenge the top times in the conference.

Keegan Reed has been a staple this year for the women in the breaststroke events, switching over from mostly swimming distance events last year, and has her sights set on second swims in the breaststrokes as well as the 400 IM. Molly Gallant has solidified her spot as the top sprinter on the team after already coming within eight tenths of her best time from last year in the 50 free (25.22 this year comparted to 24.42). Backstroke tandem of Lauren Cassano and Maddie

Van Dyke both look to get second swims as well as emerging butterflyer Amanda Hutzelmann.

The men will be led by Jeremy Kim and Drew Nosbisch. After having the top times in numerous events, both Kim and Nosbisch will be looking to sneak back up to the top with fast swims this weekend. Jordan Dehli, a true 50 free specialist, looks to improve on his huge 21.8 from two weeks ago while Caleb McKusick is looking to lockdown a top eight time in the 100 and 200 free.

Meet Schedule

Dec. 4-6: Grove City at Kenyon Total Performance Invite
Dec. 4-6: Westminster and Chatham at Wooster Invite
Dec 6: Washington & Jefferson travels to St. Vincent in the PAC Showdown of the Week

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