Grove City College Men's Swimming and Diving

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team won the team title at Grove City's 13th annual James E. Longnecker Invitational Saturday night in the Longnecker Competition Pool. The Wolverines accumulated 1,693.5 team points to win the team title. Washington & Jefferson finished second with 868 points.

Grove City swimmers captured seven individual victories during Saturday's two sessions. Sophomore Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) earned two wins Saturday as he won both the 100 free and the 200 free. Gagliardo posed a victorious time of 47.95 seconds in the 100 free, then won the 200 free in 1:47.18.

Junior Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) also picked up two wins Saturday in the backstroke. He won the 100 backstroke in 54.14 and recorded a winning time of 1:57.97 in the 200 backstroke.

Sophomore Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) won the 400 individual medley (4:18.17) while junior Chris Marasco (Washington, Pa./Washington) took first in the 100 butterfly (53.36). Freshman Alex Mathews (York, Pa./Spring Grove) won the 1650 in 17:13.70.

Grove City also swept the three relay events held Saturday. Coppelli, senior Lincoln Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist), Bowser and junior Dan Gummel (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) won the 200 medley relay in 1:37.88.

Junior Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South), sophomore Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon), freshman Eric Fairchild (Corry, Pa./Corry) and Gagliardo won the 800 free relay (7:20.13). That quartet also won the 400 free relay in 3:12.72.

Fairchild finished second in the 200 free (1:48.38) while senior Rich Albertson (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) and freshman Jon Suchin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) tied for second in the 100 butterfly (55.56). Sophomore Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) took second in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.39).

Hamilton finished second in the 100 free (48.96) while Larsen finished second in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.65). Bowser posted a time of 2:00.25 in earning runner-up in the 200 butterfly and sophomore Josh Kim (Frederick, Md./New Life Christian) placed second in the 1650 (17:21.79). Kim also took third in the 400 IM (4:26.09).

Nielsen claimed third in the 200 free (1:49.03) and junior Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) earned third in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.95). Fairchild finished third in the 100 free (48.99), Beckner took third in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.90) and Albertson claimed third in the 200 fly (2:04.49).

Men - Team Rankings                       
  1. Grove City College               1693.5   2. Washington & Jefferson              868
  3. Misericordia University           552.5   4. Hiram College                       358
  5. Cabrini College                      45