Grove City College Women's Swimming and Diving

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team earned its first Presidents' Athletic Conference title since 1999 Saturday night by winning the 19th Grove City Invitational/PAC Championships. The Wolverines accumulated 833.5 team points to out-distance Westminster (759.5) and Washington & Jefferson (735).

The quartet of freshman Jenna Richert (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), sophomore Lauren Baur (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), freshman Emily Kramer (Ankeny, Iowa/Homeschooled) and sophomore Sarah Page (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) capped Grove City's championship effort by winning the 400 free relay in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 33.06 seconds. That time also provisionally qualifies the relay team for the NCAA Championships.

Page also won the 100 free in 53.15 seconds Saturday night. In the preliminaries, she posted a Grove City-record and provisional standard time of 52.75.

Richert recorded a pair of runner-up finishes for Grove City. She took second in the 1650 (17:57.48), then placed second in the 200 butterfly with a 2:10.49 clocking.

Freshman Kate Wilt (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte) placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.27) while sophomore Sarah Bargery (Springfield, Va./Homeschooled) finished third in that event with a time of 2:26.40. Both Wilt and Bargery provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in that race.

Baur touched second in the 100 free with a time of 53.99 seconds. Senior Rebecca Smiddy (Miami, Fla./Homeschooled) earned third in the 1650 with a time of 18:27.25 while junior Amanda Thompson (Erie, Pa./McDowell) placed third in the 200 backstroke with a "B" qualifying time of 2:07.94. Kramer claimed thrid in the 100 free (54.01).

In 1-meter diving, freshman Bethany Johnson (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Calvary Christian) earned third place after accumulating 382.80 points.

Freshman Amy Fleming (Annandale, Va./Annandale) placed fourth in the 1650 (18:35.05) while classmate Kara Sisley (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) took fifth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:13.16. Freshman Larissa Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) captured fifth in the 200 fly with a 2:20.08 clocking.

Head coach John Richards earned the Invitational's Coach of the Year award. Overall, it is Grove City's seventh conference title since the program's inception in 1988.

Team Standings  
  1. Grove City College                833.5   2. Westminster College               759.5
  3. Washington & Jefferson              735   4. Chatham University                  367
  5. Saint Vincent College               220   6. Penn State Behrend                  175
  7. Frostburg State University          152   8. Penn State - Altoona                120
  9. Bethany College                     100  10. Pitt-Bradford                        82