The weekend of Feb. 18-21 saw the Shippensburg University men’s swim team compete in the four-day Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship at the Graham Aquatic Center.

Senior Jake Dunnigan led the way on Day 1 of PSACs with a 13th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (IM). Senior Stefan Szilagyi followed close behind with a 16th-place finish in the same race.

Sophomore Kristian Voulopos finished the first day with a tie for 13th place in the 50-yard freestyle.

Day 2 held many top finishes for SU. Dunnigan finished 10th in the 400-yard IM and Szilagyi was able to snag an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Voulopos represented SU in the 200-yard freestyle with a 16th-place finish in the distance event.

SU had a presence in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and in the 400-yard medley relay, finishing sixth in both races. Swimmers for the freestyle relay included Szilagyi, Voulopos, freshman Evan Smith and junior Shaun Smith. Voulopos, Dunnigan, Szilagyi and S. Smith made up the team for the medley relay.

SU returned for Day 3 with many fresh legs ready to compete. Voulopos tied for sixth in the 100-yard backstroke and Dunnigan and junior Tyler Clisham finished 13th and 16th, respectively, in the 100-yard breaststroke. Szilagyi had a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly.

Some of SU’s youngest swimmers earned a sixth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Members of the four-man squad included freshmen Theo McAllister, Shane Kaliszewski and Alex Gallagher and sophomore Quinton Beck.

The final day of the meet included a fifth place finish in the 200-yard backstroke from Voulopos, a 16th place finish in the 200-yard backstroke from Szilagyi, a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke from Dunnigan and a 12th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke from Clisham.

The meet concluded with a seventh-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay swum by Voulopos, S. Smith, Szilagyi and Dunnigan.

The highlight for the men’s team on Sunday was Dunnigan’s performance in the 200-yard breaststroke. Along with placing in the Top 5 for the event, he also broke the school record by 1.22 seconds with a time of 2:04.86.

Seniors Szilagyi and Dunnigan had great showings in their last PSAC championship meet. For the first time in their careers, both seniors qualified for finals in all four of their events. Dunnigan ends his career as an 11-time PSAC individual place winner and Szilagyi finishes his career at SU with nine PSAC place-winning performances.

SU went out on a high note with a total of 18 Top 16 finishes at the championship meet. The men’s team finished sixth overall.

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