The Shippensburg University swim teams opened their 2017 season with a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover meet with Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) on Wednesday evening at Donald N. Miller Pool inside Heiges Field House.

The women’s team raced out to a narrow 133-129 victory over the Crimson Hawks, while the men’s team fell 150.5-104.5 to IUP.

The women’s team won eight events on Wednesday and benefitted from strong nights by juniors Stephanie O’Toole and Carly Alvarado. The dual-meet came down to the 200-yard freestyle relay, where SU’s team of Erin Fife, Jeanette Welch, Madeleine Verby and Alvarado posted a time of 1:42.70 to win the meet.

O’Toole won all three of her individual events, while setting a new pool record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:11.13. She had three of SU’s eight PSAC qualifying standards, completing the 50-yard freestyle in 25.13 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.11.

Alvarado won both of her individual events, including the 50 and 100-yard backstrokes. Alvarado and O’Toole book-ended the opening 200-yard medley relay and with Gabriella Johnson and Rhyan Rodriguez, SU won the event with a time of 1:51.60.

Verby impressed in her first meet with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle and a PSAC-qualifying performance in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:26.10 — one that was good enough for second place.

“We did some terrific things tonight,” SU head coach Tim Verge told SU Sports Information.

“That is a very good team, and to get a close win at home with the women against them was just wonderful. I asked them to race hard and smart, and for the most part, they did.”

The men’s team, while taking the loss, performed exceptionally well in the opening meet. Jeff Beyer started SU off with a win in the 200-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle, while finishing the night with three PSAC cuts. 

Freshman Eric Zimmerman impressed in his debut with a PSAC qualifying time in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:05.37. Other solid freshman performances came from Ely Fryer and Joe Deemer, who both qualified for PSAC meet in the 100-yard butterfly with times of 53.25 seconds and 54.41 seconds, respectively.

The night ended with an unbelievably close 200-yard freestyle relay, as Beyer, freshman Hunter Keck, Deemer and Adam Fox finished just .02 seconds behind IUP with a time of 1:30.22.

“Our men swam very strong. We were very competitive at the top end of things,” Verge told SU Sports Information. “It was good to see really strong early-season swims.”

While SU posted 16 PSAC-qualifying times in its opening meet, Verge stressed that the times will improve as swimmers recover from the grueling preseason workouts.

“A lot of the times come with resting,” Verge told SU Sports Information. “I’m very proud of them after the week of work we’ve been having. I am sure IUP was tired too, and they looked sharp and ready to go. It was a fun, early season meet. That was a great way to kick off the year.”

SU will return to action this weekend, when it hosts West Chester University and Southern Connecticut State University on October 13-14 from Donald N. Miller Pool. The Raiders will have just one more home meet when they return home for a PSAC match against Clarion University on Nov. 3. 

The Nov. 3 meet will serve as SU’s Senior Day and it will be the last meet before the Patriot Invitational at George Mason University.

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