The Shippensburg University men’s and women’s swimming teams traveled to southern Connecticut Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for the first meet—a tri-meet against West Chester University and Southern Connecticut State.
The women’s squad won four events on the first night of competition, which included three individual events and a relay.
Stephanie O’Toole set a school record in the 400-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 4:33.34. The time was good enough for O’Toole to beat the rest of the field by an astonishing 16 seconds, as well as qualify for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships.
“Steph O’Toole’s school record in the 100-yard backstroke was a super swim,” coach Tim Verge said. “We haven’t had a record set in a dual meet for some time.”
Carly Alvarado won the individual 100-yard backstroke, finishing just under a minute with a time of 59.89 seconds—just eight-tenths of a second off her personal record (PR) time, which ranks fourth in SU history.
Erin Fife took the win in the 200-yard butterfly posting a time of 2:17.59 to sneak by West Chester.
The women also won a 400-yard medley relay, featuring O’Toole, Nicole Martorella, Fife and Sidney Owens. The relay squad finished with a time of 4:03.29.
The men’s squad had a strong start as well. Jeff Beyer had a strong performance in the 500-yard freestyle, placing second with a time of 4:49.93—the fastest time by a Raider in the event since the 2013 season.
Other strong performances included Beyer in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 48.98 seconds—a time good enough to qualify for the PSAC Championships. Adam Fox also qualified in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.61 seconds.
In the 500-yard free, Christian Gamboa qualified for the PSAC Championships with a time of 4:57.06, along with Beyer.
Kristian Voulopos and Callum Hamel also qualified for the PSAC Championships in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.
On the second day of competition, O’Toole won two more events for the women’s team, taking the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:25.22—putting her fifth all-time in school history for the event. She also won the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:08.86, which puts her fourth all-time.
Grace Tothero and Owens each had solid swims and third-place finishes. Tothero finished the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:14.35 and Owens completed the 200-yard IM in 2:17.72.
Owens qualified for the PSAC Championships along with Fife. Owens qualified in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.76 and Fife qualified in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.88. Fife won the 100-yard butterfly at the PSAC Championships in 2015.
Numerous other swimmers qualified for the PSAC Championships, with Alvarado and McKenna Angert qualifying in the 200-yard backstroke, O’Toole, Tothero and Martorella qualifying in the 200-yard breaststroke and O’Toole, Tothero and Martorella qualifying in the 200 IM.
On the men’s side Adam Fox and Evan Smith qualified for the PSAC Championships in the 50-yard freestyle, while Beyer qualified in the 200-yard backstroke. Beyer and Gamboa both qualified in the 1650-yard freestyle.
“I think it was a strong performance overall,” Verge said. “There were some inconsistences by individuals from day to day, but all in all I thought we raced very hard and had some strong swims for this early in the year.”
Verge was particularly impressed by his team’s ability to recover from the long bus ride to the meet.
“It was a seven and a half hour trip on the way up and I think we handled getting off the bus and racing very well. It is a long year and we have a lot of work ahead but I think we got what we were looking for in this first meet,” Verge said.
The Raiders swim team will match up next against the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). SU’s women’s team defeated IUP last season at home.
“Well the IUP meet will be tough,” Verge said. “They are a very good team and didn’t like losing here on the women’s side last year. They will be ready. Dual meet scoring is tough, you have to win events, so we’ll emphasize doing the little things right.”
SU travels to IUP Tuesday Oct. 18.
Results:
Women’s Results- Sept. 30
100 Free
MacKenna Angert 56.42
Jeanette Welch 57.60
Kadie Weaver 1:00.05
Rhyan Rodriguez 1:02.45
500 Free
MacKenna Angert 5:31.13
Lauren Ellis 5:33.60
Jeanette Welch 5:36.85
Kara Killion 6:01.45
100 Back
1. Carly Alvarado 59.89 (PSAC)
Rhyan Rodriguez 1:04.61
Sami Sabol 1:09.49
Courtney Lawson 1:12.43
McKenzie Johnson 1:12.68
100 Breast
2. Grace Tothero 1:10.31 (PSAC)
3. Nicole Martorella 1:10.75 (PSAC)
Sarah Strause 1:16.39
Kaytee Garcia 1:19.63
200 Fly
1. Erin Fife 2:17.59 (PSAC)
Lauren Ellis 2:21.85 (PSAC)
Nollaig Noll 2:37.16
Nicole Smith 2:45.81
400 IM
1. Stephanie O'Toole 4:33.34 (PSAC)
Sidney Owens 4:52.03 (PSAC)
Nicole Martorella 5:11.22
Kaytee Garcia 5:19.81
200 Free Relay
2. Stephanie O'Toole, Sidney Owens, Nollaig Noll, Erin Fife 1:42.62
Kadie Weaver, Grace Tothero, Kara Killion, Sarah Strause 1:49.44
Courtney Lawson, Alex Kryzan, Nicole Smith, McKenzie Johnson 1:59.47
800 Free Relay
2. Stephanie O'Toole, MacKenna Angert, Lauren Ellis, Carly Alvarado 8:13.65
Kaytee Garcia, Jeanette Welch, Erin Fife, Sidney Owens 8:39.37
Nollaig Noll, Grace Tothero, Sami Sabol, Kara Killion 8:57.57
400 Medley Relay
1. Stephanie O'Toole, Nicole Martorella, Erin Fife, Sidney Owens 4:03.29
3. Carly Alvarado, Grace Tothero, Rhyan Rodriguez, Nollaig Noll 4:09.47
Sami Sabol, Sarah Strause, Nicole Smith, Kadie Weaver 4:31.30
Men’s Results- Sept. 30
100 Free
Jeff Beyer 48.98 (PSAC)
Adam Fox 49.61 (PSAC)
Evan Smith 50.55
Mike Gyurisin 54.12
500 Free
2. Jeff Beyer 4:49.93 (PSAC)
Christian Gamboa 4:57.06 (PSAC)
Quinton Beck 5:23.14
Evan Anthony 5:43.45
100 Back
Kristian Voulopos 56.36 (PSAC)
Nick Bloom 56.70
Thomas Toscano 57.02
Alex Gallagher 59.52
100 Breast
Callum Hamel 1:02.01 (PSAC)
Christian Gamboa 1:03.55
Tyler Clisham 1:05.96
200 Fly
Shaun Smith 2:12.25
Shane Kaliszewski 2:21.12
400 IM
Nick Bloom 4:34.62
Callum Hamel 4:38.90
Quinton Beck 4:48.09
Tyler Clisham 4:50.96
200 Free Relay
3. Shaun Smith, Kristian Voulopos, Adam Fox, Evan Smith 1:30.15
Shane Kaliszewski, Mike Gyurisin, Alex Gallagher, Thomas Toscano 1:33.72
800 Free Relay
3. Jeff Beyer, Christian Gamboa, Shaun Smith, Kristian Voulopos 7:29.23
Quinton Beck, Mike Gyurisin, Shane Kaliszewski, Evan Anthony 8:17.41
400 Medley Relay
Kristian Voulopos, Tyler Clisham, Shane Kaliszewski, Evan Smith 3:47.75
Callum Hamel, Shaun Smith, Nick Bloom, Adam Fox 3:48.38
Women’s Results- Oct. 1
50 Free
Sidney Owens 25.76 (PSAC)
Felicia Chopyak 26.80
Nollaig Noll 27.17
Kaytee Garcia 27.92
Alex Kryzan 29.34
200 Free
MacKenna Angert 2:04.64
Jeanette Welch 2:06.80
Felicia Chopyak 2:11.45
Kara Killion 2:17.15
1650 Free
Lauren Ellis 19:45.47
Felicia Chopyak 20:24.62
100 Fly
2. Erin Fife 1:00.88 (PSAC)
Lauren Ellis 1:03.09
Rhyan Rodriguez 1:04.31
Nicole Smith 1:07.04
Nollaig Noll 1:07.29
Kadie Weaver 1:10.49
200 Back
2. Carly Alvarado 2:14.35 (PSAC)
MacKenna Angert 2:15.62 (PSAC)
Rhyan Rodriguez 2:20.68
Sami Sabol 2:29.20
McKenzie Johnson 2:35.14
Courtney Lawson 2:37.66
200 Breast
1. Stephanie O'Toole 2:25.22 (PSAC)
3. Grace Tothero 2:32.88 (PSAC)
Nicole Martorella 2:36.21 (PSAC)
Sarah Strause 2:47.07
200 IM
1. Stephanie O'Toole 2:08.86 (PSAC)
3. Sidney Owens 2:17.72 (PSAC)
Grace Tothero 2:18.23 (PSAC)
Nicole Martorella 2:28.51
Kaytee Garcia 2:30.19
200 Medley Relay
1. Carly Alvarado, Nicole Martorella, Erin Fife, Stephanie O'Toole 1:51.54
Lauren Ellis, Grace Tothero, Rhyan Rodriguez, Jeanette Welch 1:56.47
400 Free Relay
3. Lauren Ellis, MacKenna Angert, Erin Fife, Sidney Owens 3:53.04
Nollaig Noll, Kaytee Garcia, Jeanette Welch, Carly Alvarado 4:02.19
Sarah Strause, Sami Sabol, Kara Killion, Nicole Smith 4:09.55
Men’s Results- October 1
50 Free
Adam Fox 22.65 (PSAC)
Evan Smith 22.70 (PSAC)
Shaun Smith 22.77
Mike Gyurisin 23.89
200 Free
Jeff Beyer 1:48.24 (PSAC)
Adam Fox 1:56.12
Mike Gyurisin 2:00.71
1650 Free
2. Jeff Beyer 17:21.55 (PSAC)
Christian Gamboa 17:27.93 (PSAC)
100 Fly
Shaun Smith 55.36
Shane Kaliszewski 55.72
Alex Gallagher 59.12
Chandler Johnson 1:00.34
200 Back
3. Kristian Voulopos 2:03.00 (PSAC)
Nick Bloom 2:06.60
Callum Hamel 2:10.25
Thomas Toscano 2:10.43
Alex Gallagher 2:12.15
Evan Anthony 2:24.49
200 Breast
Christian Gamboa 2:20.62
Tyler Clisham 2:26.23
Quinton Beck 2:27.46
200 IM
Nick Bloom 2:07.16
Callum Hamel 2:09.28
Quinton Beck 2:14.22
Tyler Clisham 2:15.45
200 Medley Relay
Callum Hamel, Tyler Clisham, Shane Kaliszewski, Kristian Voulopos 1:43.72
400 Free Relay
3. Kristian Voulopos, Jeff Beyer, Christian Gamboa, Shaun Smith 3:16.73
Evan Smith, Adam Fox, Shane Kaliszewski, Mike Gyurisin 3:27.53
Alex Gallagher, Thomas Toscano, Chandler Johnson, Evan Anthony 3:38.76
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