February 5, 2011

Grove City goes 1-2 at Pitt

PITTSBURGH -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team went 1-2 at the University of Pittsburgh Quad Meet Saturday at Trees Pool. Grove City earned a 158-127 win over NCAA Division II foe Clarion. Carnegie Mellon downed the Wolverines 157.5-129.5 and host Pitt picked up a 230.5-62.5 victory over Grove City.

Junior Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) helped lead Grove City (10-4) by posting runner-up finishes in both breaststroke races. He took second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.22 seconds and then finished second in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.29).

Junior Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) placed second in the 100 free (47.60) and added a fourth-place finish in the 50 free (21.46). Sophomore Alex Mathews (York, Pa./Spring Grove) earned third in the 200 backstroke (1:58.63) while senior Cam Coppelli (Guys Mills, Pa./Saegertown) finished fourth in the 100 backstroke in 54.20.

Junior Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) took fifth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:59.79.

Grove City also took fourth overall in both relay events. Coppelli, Beckner, Bowser and sophomore Eric Fairchild (Corry, Pa./Corry) opened the meet by taking fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:36.61). Junior Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon), senior Nate Nielsen (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South), senior Dan Gummel (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) and Gagliardo placed fourth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:28.10.

The Wolverines will host the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships as part of the James E. Longnecker Invitational February 17-19.