By Mel Barracato, Staff Writer
Susquehanna men’s and women’s swim teams faced off at Gettysburg College with Messiah College in last weekend’s tri-meet, where the women’s team came out of the weekend with a win against Messiah and a loss to Gettysburg and the men’s team dropped both meets.
Gettysburg trumped River Hawks in the men’s and women’s meets with scores of 207-54 and 138-123, respectively. The women’s team defeated Messiah 142- 119, but the men’s team lost 150-111 to Gettysburg.
Senior Joann Butkus took first in the 200 breaststroke and helped the free relay team of junior Katie Willis, freshman Tori Weems, and senior Jess Jozefiak cruise to a first place finish with a time of 1:40.37.
Willis also took second place in the 200 freestyle and third in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Butkus, Weems, sophomore Catie Welch and junior Maggie Palaski teamed up for third in the 200 medley relay. She also earned the top female swimmer award for the Landmark Conference due to her performance against Gettysburg and Messiah.
River Hawk sophomores Megan Shaffer and Caitlin Kelly took first and second in the 100 freestyle while Shaffer and freshman Abby Condon took the first two spots again in the 200 backstroke. Shaffer also finished third in 100 backstroke and Palaski and Jozefiak took third and fourth respectively in 100 butterfly.
On the men’s side, sophomore David Grove was out touched by .02 seconds and finished second in 100 backstroke and junior James Orzolek took second in 100 freestyle. Orzolek placed fourth in 50 freestyle and was part of the relay team of Grove, sophomore Shane Sullivan, and freshman Brett Walker that placed fourth in the 200 medley relay team. Orzolek, Grove, Walker, and freshman David Brady took fourth place in the 200 freestyle relay as well.
Sullivan took third in 100 breaststroke and fourth in 200 breast. Junior Ryan Rizzuto placed fourth in both the 100 and 200 butterfly races, and freshman Owen Kelly took fourth in the 1000 free.
The River Hawks return to the pool after Thanksgiving to participate in the Total Performance Sports Camps Invitational at Kenyon on Thursday, Nov. 30 and Diving will compete at the Catholic Invitational on Nov. 18. the Susquehanna was selected as the number nine-ranked team in the CollegeSwimming.com Regional Rankings.