March 6, 2012
Six qualify for NCAA Championships
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Six members of the Grove City College women's swimming and diving team have been invited to compete in the 2012 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships March 21-24 in Indianapolis.
Grove City will send senior Jenna Richert (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), senior Kate Wilt (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte), junior Angela Palumbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity), junior Kait Riesmeyer (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township), junior Jenny Ryan (State College, Pa./State College) and freshman Lauren Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) to the national meet.
Cassano, Richert and Wilt will compete in relay events. Palumbo, Riesmeyer and Ryan all qualified in individual events and will also participate in relays.
Palumbo, Richert, Riesmeyer and Ryan will team up in all three free relay events. That quartet is seeded sixth in the 800 free relay with a time of 7 minutes, 31.74 seconds. The squad is also the No. 8-ranked team in the 400 free relay (3:28.36) and the 12th-ranked 200 free relay foursome (1:35.37).
Cassano (backstroke), Wilt (breaststroke), Riesmeyer (butterfly) and Palumbo (freestyle) comprise Grove City's 400 medley relay team. That group earned the 16th and final automatic invitation to the NCAA Championships in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:28.36.
Grove City will also be permitted to compete in the 200 medley relay since the Wolverines have qualified enough athletes for the meet. Grove City is ranked 22nd in the 200 medley relay with a season-best time of 1:47.30. Cassano, Wilt, Riesmeyer and Ryan (freestyle) will be the Wolverines' 200 medley relay quartet.
Palumbo and Ryan have both qualified in three individual events. Palumbo is the 11th-ranked performer in the 100 free (51.47). She is also 13th in the 200 free (1:51.95) and 19th in the 50 free (23.78). Ryan will compete in both individual medley races. She enters the meet 11th in the 200 IM (2:05.98) and 15th in the 400 IM (4:31.48).
Riesmeyer qualified in both the 100 and 200 butterfly. Riesmeyer will be seeded 12th in the 200 fly (2:05.09) and 19th in the 100 fly (56.75).
Palumbo is a nine-time NCAA Division III All-American. Ryan owns eight All-America honors and Riesmeyer is a seven-time All-American. Richert is a five-time NCAA All-American. Wilt and Cassano are both making their debut at the national championships.
Participants can compete in up to seven events at the Championships with no more than three being individual events. A swimmer can swim two events on an individual basis and compete in all five relays if he/she elects to do so.
Grove City has finished 11th at the NCAA Championships in each of the last two seasons.
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