March 23, 2013
Grove City finishes ninth at NCAA Championships
SHENANDOAH, Texas -- The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team concluded the 2013 NCAA Division III Championships Saturday night by finishing ninth in the team standings with 116 team points. It is the program's best-ever finish at the national championships.
Grove City closed the meet by taking sixth in the 400 free relay with a school-record time of 3 minutes, 25.78 seconds. 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) combined on the record-breaking effort and earned All-America honors.
Palumbo also earned NCAA All-America honors in the 100 free by taking eighth place overall. She set a new school record in that event with a time of 50.93 seconds.
Two Grove City swimmers competed in Saturday afternoon's preliminaries. Sophomore Lauren Cassano (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) captured 27th in the 200 back with a time of 2:08.37. Freshman Megan Bilko (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) earned 17th in the 1650 free with a time of 17:21.58.
Palumbo concludes her career as a 21-time NCAA All-American. She is the most decorated athlete in Grove City's 129-year intercollegiate athletic history. Riesmeyer is a 17-time All-American and Ryan owns 16 All-American citations. Baker is a now a two-time All-American. Cassano and junior Kaley Hess (Reamstown, Pa./Cocalico) also earned a pair of All-America honors during the four-day meet and Bilko captured All-America in the 800 free relay.
Emory won the team title with 619 points while Kenyon took second with 483. Grove City had finished 10th at the NCAA Championships last season and 11th in both 2011 and 2010.
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