March 20, 2009
Grove City 6th after 3rd day of NCAA Championships
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team is in sixth place after the third day of competition at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by Macalester College at the University of Minnesota.
The Wolverines have earned 114 team points and trail fifth-place Amherst by just three points. Kenyon leads the competition with 482 points, followed by Emory (324), Denison (234.5) and St. Olaf (205).
Grove City earned All-America honors in the 800 free relay Friday afternoon by placing 12th overall. The quartet of freshman Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township), freshman Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon), sophomore Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South) and senior Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) posted a time of 6 minutes, 47.06 seconds in earning All-America honors.
Hamilton and Nielsen become Grove City's 57th and 58th all-time NCAA All-American's in men's swimming and diving. Gagliardo picked up his second All-America honor of the Championships.
Friday night, Courage earned his 16th career All-America citation as he placed 10th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.46 seconds.
Sophomore Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) and senior Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) also competed in the 100 backstroke preliminaries. Coppelli took 37th with a time of 53.12 seconds while Whitbeck followed in 38th (54.07).
Two Grove City swimmers also competed in the 100 breaststroke Friday. Freshman Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) placed 32nd in 57.99 seconds while sophomore Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) took 42nd in 59.19.
Saturday's preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. Eastern. The finals will start at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
Go back to Wolverine Swimming and Diving Home Page