February 2, 2011

Grove City clinches 60th straight winning season

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team secured its 60th consecutive winning season Wednesday night by rolling to a 151-124 victory over visiting Westminster in a Presidents' Athletic Conference dual meet at James E. Longnecker Competition Pool. Grove City improved to 8-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference with the win.

Junior Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) and sophomore Eric Fairchild (Corry, Pa./Corry) both earned two wins each for the Wolverines. Beckner won the 100 breaststroke in 59.36 seconds, then won the 200 breaststroke in 2:14.79. Fairchild, meanwhile, won the 200 free in 1:43.85 and then captured the 500 in 4:53.45.

Junior Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) won the 200 butterfly in 1:58.60 and also posted the top time in the 200 individual medley (2:00.46) on an exhibition basis.

Senior Dan Gummel (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) won the 50 free (22.02) and junior Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) took the 100 free in 46.84 seconds. Sophomore Alex Mathews (York, Pa./Spring Grove) earned the win in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:55.16.

Beckner, Bowser, Gagliardo and senior Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:35.84. Fairchild, Gagliardo, junior Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon) and senior Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South) closed the meet by recording a top time of 3:14.40 in the 400 free relay.

Grove City has won three straight against Westminster and now leads the all-time series 40-38. Grove City closes the conference and regular seasons Saturday against visiting Bethany at 1 p.m. Several Wolverine swimmers will also compete in the Pitt Quad at the University of Pittsburgh Saturday at 11 a.m.