By Melissa Barracato Staff writer
Susquehanna’s men’s and women’s swim teams faced off with Messiah and Gettysburg in an out-of-conference tri-meet hosted at Gettysburg on Nov. 12.
The men’s team fell to Gettysburg 185-75 but got the win against Messiah by a score of 159-101. The women’s team suffered two losses with final scores of 145-116 and 137-124 against Messiah and Gettysburg, respectively.
“Our goal was to compete,” Head Coach Jerry Foley said.
“I was pleased with our effort, our level of enthusiasm and support for each other,” he added.
The River Hawks earned points for several races, including first-place points from senior Eric Lawrence, who won the 200 individual medley with the time of 2:01.94, along with freshman Hannah Finton, who earned a personal record time of 11:07.10 in the 1000 freestyle, and freshman Megan Schaffer, who won the 100 and 200 backstroke events with personal record times of 1:01.6 and 2:11.61, respectively.
Lawerence was also named the Landmark Conference Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week. Alongside his first place finish in the 200 individual medley, he finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.42.
Other notable races for the men’s team include the 200 medley relay, where the team of Lawrence, senior Jourdan Stewart, sophomore James Orzolek and freshman Shane Sullivan came in second with a time of 1:40.34.
In the 1000 freestyle, sophomore Ryan Nathan finished third with a time of 10:27.73. Lawrence finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.42.
Orzolek also took second in the 50 freestyle at 22.15.
Susquehanna grabbed spots three through six in the 500 freestyle with Nathan placing third at 5:06.68, senior David Miller placing fourth at 5:06.96 and senior Bill Crumrine placing sixth at 5:10.40.
Stewart and sophomore Ryan Rizzuto took second and third in the 100 butterfly with times of 54.35 and 56.41, respectively.
Susquehanna also earned second place in the 400 freestyle relay with the time of 3:32.00, with the team of Stewart, Miller, Orzolek and freshman David Grove to finish out the meet.
On the women’s side, the River Hawks started out with third and fifth place finishes in the 200 medley relay with the team of senior Erin McElwee, junior JoAnn Butkus, and sophomores Maggie Palaski and Katie Willis earning second place with a time of 1:51.81, while the team of Schaffer, senior Lizzie Richart, sophomore Megan Duck and freshman Colleen Walsh took fifth with a time of 1:58.22.
Freshman Caitlin Kelly placed third in the 200 freestyle with a personal record time of 2:01.68.
Butkus finished second at 1:08.96 in the 100 breaststroke. Willis finished second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle with times of 24.85 and 54.54, respectively.
Kelly set a personal record in the 500, finishing second with a time of 5:22.95.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the last event of the day, the River Hawks finished second with a time of 3:43.46 with the team of Willis, Kelly, Schaffer and Butkus. Susquehanna also earned fifth place at 3:53.13 with the team of Palaski, Finton, Richart and freshman Erin Wetmore.
“Our strength is our depth,” Foley said. “We could have someone who is sick or injured and have other individuals who can really fill in and not really miss a beat.”
Susquehanna has a big season ahead with important meets against Scranton and Catholic along with non-conference opponent Franklin & Marshall.
“Each competition, week and day we just want to get better,” Foley said.
“I really want to focus on the process,” he added.
Both the Susquehanna men’s and women’s teams are 2-0 within the Landmark Conference, while the men moved to 3-1 and the women moved to 2-2 overall.
The next meet is the Gettysburg Invitational, which will take place on Dec. 2 and 3.
