March 9, 2009

Eleven qualify for NCAA Championships

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team will send 11 swimmers to the NCAA Division III Championships March 18-21 in Minneapolis.

Grove City will be represented by four seniors who are returning NCAA All-Americans: Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg), Peter Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist), Drew Snyder (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) and Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown).

Seven of the 11 swimmers are making their first trip to the national championships, including freshmen Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg), Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls), Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) and Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon).

Sophomores Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown), Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) and Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South) will also make their debut at the NCAA Championships.

Courage is an 11-time All-American and won the national title in the 100 free in both 2006 and 2007. He will compete in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 backstroke at this year's Championships. Courage will also be part of Grove City's entries in the 200, 400 and 800 free relays, along with the 400 medley relay.

Whitbeck is an eight-time All-American. He won the national title in the 50 free two years ago and placed third in that event in 2008. Whitbeck will compete in the 50 and 100 free, along with the 100 backstroke. He is also expected to swim the 200 and 400 free relay and both medley relays.

Larsen has qualified for the 100 free and 100 butterfly races. He earned All-America status in the 400 free relay in 2007 and will compete in that event as well as the 200 medley relay.

Snyder is a five-time NCAA All-American who will join Courage and Whitbeck on the 200 free relay.

Beckner will compete in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 medley relay while Bowser has qualified for both the 200 and 400 individual medley. Bowser will join Larsen in the 100 fly. He'll also contribute a leg to Grove City's 400 medley relay.

Gagliardo will compete in the 50, 100 and 200 free individual events along with the three free relays. Hamilton and Nielsen each qualified in both the 200 free and the 800 free relay.

Coppelli has qualified in both backstroke events. He'll also swim on the 200 medley relay. Keefer will swim both breaststroke events and in the 400 medley relay.

This is the fifth straight season that Grove City will send at least one athlete to the NCAA Championships. In 2007, led by Courage and Whitbeck's national titles, Grove City finished ninth nationally. That is Grove City best-ever finish at the Division III Championships. In 1964, Grove City hosted the inaugural NCAA College Division Championships and placed ninth in the team standings.

Macalester College is the host institution for this year's Championships. The meet will be held at the University of Minnesota This is the first year that the men's and women's national championships have been held concurrently at the same site.

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