Grove City College Men's Swimming and Diving

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving squad is in first place after the second night of action at the three-day Grove City College Invitational/Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships in the James E. Longnecker Competition Pool. Grove City extended its overall lead in the team standings to 168 points Friday night as the Wolverines own a 634-466 edge over second-place Westminster. Washington & Jefferson is third with 340.5 points.

Grove City captured both relay events Friday evening to help extend the lead in the team standings. Junior Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown), sophomore Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg), sophomore Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) and freshman Eric Fairchild (Corry, Pa./Corry) opened Friday night's action by winning the 200 medley relay in 1 minute, 35.15 seconds.

Fairchild, junior Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South), sophomore Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon) and sophomore Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) closed the evening by winning the 800 free relay in 6:54.13. That time provisionally qualifies the relay team for the NCAA Championships.

Bowser and Gagliardo both earned individual victories Friday night. Bowser won the 400 individual medley in an NCAA "B" time of 4:07.91. Gagliardo provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet in the 200 free with a victorious time of 1:42.14. Gagliardo led a 1-2-3 sweep in that event for the Wolverines as Fairchild (1:43.60) took second and Hamilton (1:44.66) placed third.

Beckner earned second in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA "B" time of 58.01 seconds and Coppelli captured second in the 100 backstroke (53.03).

Sophomore Josh Kim (Frederick, Md./New Life Christian) secured fourth in the 400 IM (4:12.89), one spot ahead of freshman Alex Mathews (York, Pa./Spring Grove), who posted a time of 4:16.60. Junior Chris Marasco (Washington, Pa./Washington) earned fourth in the 100 butterfly (52.77) while junior Bennett Keefer (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.08 seconds. Senior Lincoln Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist) took fifth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.53.

Bowser also posted a time of 51.13 in the 100 butterfly during an unscored time trial. That provisionally qualifies him for the NCAA meet in that event.

Team Standings
1. Grove City College                  634   2. Westminster College                 466
3. Washington & Jefferson            340.5   4. Penn State Behrend                  292
5. Saint Vincent College               142   6. Penn State - Altoona                136
7. Frostburg State University          125   8. Univ. of Pitt-Bradford            111.5
9. Bethany College                      73