November 5, 2011

Grove City rolls past Saint Vincent

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's swimming and diving team opened Presidents' Athletic Conference action Saturday with a 151-71 win over visiting Saint Vincent in the James E. Longnecker Pool.

Seven different Wolverine swimmers earned wins Saturday. Senior Clay Beckner (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) captured the 100 backstroke in 57.01 seconds and then prevailed in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:15.31. Senior Ben Bowser (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls) won the 200 butterfly in 2:01.41 and took first in the 200 back with a time of 2:03.30. Bowser also posted the top time in the 100 fly (53.10).

Sophomore Dave Bossert (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) won the 1650 in 17:36.98 while senior Kirk Gagliardo (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) won the 200 free in 1:46.62. Junior Adam Walker (Lexington, Ky./Homeschooled) prevailed in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.48) and senior Collin Foster (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) won the 50 free (23.18).

Also for the Wolverines (1-1, 1-0 PAC), junior Eric Fairchild (Corry, Pa./Corry) won the 100 free in 47.93 seconds. Fairchild, Beckner, Gagliardo and senior Nick Hamilton (Crescent, Pa./Moon) opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:40.43.

Hamilton posted the top time in the 500 (5:02.20). Junior Ian Smyth (Troy, Pa./Troy) touched first in the 200 individual medley (2:06.48) and the quartet of Fairchild, Hamilton, Gagliardo and sophomore C.P. Delhi (Moneta, Va./Staunton River) closed the meet with a top time of 3:15.97 in the 400 free relay.

Grove City will host Carnegie Mellon next Saturday at 1 p.m. in non-conference action.