December 4, 2009
Grove City leading after first night of Longnecker Invitational
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team is in first place after the opening night of Grove City's 13th annual James E. Longnecker Invitational in the James E. Longnecker Competition Pool Friday night. Grove City accumulated 528.5 team points through six events Friday night. Washington & Jefferson is second with 305 points.
Four Grove City athletes earned individual wins Friday night. Senior Kyle Grubbs (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) opened the meet by winning 1-meter diving with 210.90 points.
Freshman Alex Mathews (York, Pa./Spring Grove) won the 500 in 4 minutes, 53.38 seconds while sophomore Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) earned first in the 200 individual medley (1:59.53).
Sophomore Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) won the 50 free in 21.28 seconds. He also joined junior Dan Gummel (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian), freshman Dave Dombrowski (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) and junior Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) on Grove City's victorious 200 free relay team. That foursome posted a victorious time of 1:27.29.
Coppelli, Bowser, Gagliardo and sophomore Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) capped the session by winning the 400 medley relay in 3:35.05.
Mathews, junior Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville), junior Chris Marasco (Washington, Pa./Washington) and sophomore Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon) took second in the 400 medley relay (3:39.68).
Sophomore Josh Kim (Frederick, Md./New Life Christian) placed second in the 500 (4:53.54) while Beckner grabbed third in the 200 IM (2:02.68). Gummel finished third in the 50 (22.03).
Saturday's action will begin at 10 a.m.
Men - Team Rankings 1. Grove City College 528.5 2. Washington & Jefferson 305 3. Misericordia University 167.5 4. Hiram College 105 5. Cabrini College 11
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