February 14, 2013

Grove City leads after first night

GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team owns the lead after the first night of action at the James E. Longnecker Invitational/Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships. The host Wolverines earned 280 points Thursday night and hold a 50-point edge over conference rival Westminster. Saint Vincent is third with 184 points and Washington & Jefferson sits fourth at 102.

Grove City bookended Thursday night's session by winning both relay events. The 200 free relay squad of senior Jenny Ryan (State College, Pa./State College), sophomore Tori Baker (Fairfax, Va./Robinson), senior Kait Riesmeyer (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and senior Angela Palumbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity) opened the finals by posting a victorious time of 1 minute, 35.61 seconds.

Riesmeyer, Palumbo, sophomore Lauren Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and junior Kaley Hess (Reamstown, Pa./Cocalico) closed the session with a winning time of 3:53.22 in the 400 medley relay.

Both relay squads surpassed the NCAA Championships' provisional, or "B," qualifying standard.

Ryan won the 200 individual medley in an NCAA qualifying time of 2:07.17 while Palumbo won the 50 free in 23.85 seconds. That time also surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard.

Freshman Megan Bilko (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) captured the 500 free in 5:07.90. Baker earned runner-up in the 500 with a time of 5:11.97. Meanwhile, Cassano captured second in the 200 individual medley in 2:10.59.

Riesmeyer earned fourth in the 50 (24.72) while senior Mary McLachlan (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) took sixth in the 500 with a time of 5:23.96. Senior Natalie Keibler (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) placed sixth in the 200 individual medley in 2:14.20.

Freshman Carolyn Eckendorf (Fairview, Pa./Fairview) led the Wolverine diving corps by taking third in 3-meter diving with 349.55 points.

Friday's preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. The finals are scheduled for 6 p.m.

Team Standings
1. Grove City College                280   2. Westminster College               230
3. Saint Vincent College             184   4. Washington & Jefferson College    102
5. Penn State Behrend                 74   6. Chatham University                 70
7. Bethany College                    67   8. Cabrini College                    46
9. Franciscan University of Steub     44  10. Penn State Altoona                 31
11. Univ of Pittsburgh at Bradford    19

Results

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