February 18, 2012

Grove City wins 4th straight conference crown

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team earned its fourth straight Presidents' Athletic Conference title Saturday night by rolling to the team title at the College's James E. Longnecker Invitational/PAC Championships. The Wolverines finished the three-day event with 933 team points.

The Wolverines sealed the conference title Saturday night by winning the 400 free relay in 3 minutes, 29.17 seconds. Senior Jenna Richert (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), sophomore Kait Riesmeyer (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township), junior Jenny Ryan (State College, Pa./State College) and junior Angela Palumbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity) combined for the winning effort.

Ryan opened Saturday night's session by winning the 1650 in 17:27.60. Palumbo win the 100 free in 51.47 seconds while Riesmeyer prevailed in the 200 butterfly (2:05.09).

Freshman Lauren Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) won the 200 backstroke in 2:07.86 for the Wolverines.

Richert took second in the 100 free (53.01) while senior Kate Wilt (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte) earned third in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.23). Freshman Tori Baker (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) placed fourth in the 200 back (2:09.59), one spot ahead of junior Natalie Keibler (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), who recorded a time of 2:10.07.

Freshman Emma Rudolf (Birchrunville, Pa./Homeschooled) captured fifth place in the 200 breaststroke in 2:29.54 and senior Larissa Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) earned fifth in the 200 butterfly (2:15.42).

Head coach Dave Fritz earned the conference's Coach of the Year award. Grove City's 267.5-point margin of victory is the largest ever for an NCAA Division III team in the 22-year history of the meet. Grove City's 933 team points are the most ever by a Division III team at the meet.

Grove City has now won 10 conference titles in the last 21 years.

Women - Team Rankings
1. Grove City College                  933   2. Westminster College               665.5
3. Washington & Jefferson College      648   4. Saint Vincent College             438.5
5. Penn State Behrend                  301   6. Chatham University                  160
7. Cabrini College                     107   8. Bethany College                     105
8. Franciscan University of Steub      105  10. Univ of Pittsburgh at Bradford       78
11. Penn State Altoona                  30

Results

Go back to Wolverine Swimming and Diving Home Page