West Chester University’s women’s swimming team brought home its 11th consecutive team title at the 2017 PSAC Swimming Championships held inside the Graham Aquatic Club in the York YMCA Sunday night.
West Chester posted a PSAC-record 1,817 points, easily outdistancing second-place Bloomsburg, while also topping the Golden Rams’ previous best of 1,073 points in 2005. WCU was the only PSAC school to eclipse 1,000 points at the women’s swimming championships, before this winter. Bloomsburg scored 1,073.5 points to finish runner-up. West Chester has now won the PSAC championship in 15 of the last 17 years while head coach Jamie Rudisill has steered both his men’s and women’s teams to a combined 34 titles since 1999.
Freshman Georgia Wright (Doncaster, Pa.) was named the swimmer of the meet at the conclusion of the championships. She won the 1650-yard freestyle and the 200 backstroke on Sunday, adding those titles to her previous triumphs in the 1000 and 500 free. Her victories in both the 1000 and 1650 were PSAC records while her win in the 500 free was a meet record. She was also a member of the 400 medley relay team that took first place. Wright shaved nearly six seconds off the PSAC mark in the 1650 free.
Wright’s time of 16 minutes, 37.21 seconds automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Division II Women’s Swimming Championships next month in Alabama. She also hit an automatic qualifying time in the 1000 free.
Tess Hayward (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) was second behind Wright in the 1650 free with a time of 17:01.59. Taylor Hoover (York, Pa./West York) was fourth in 17:19.62. Emma O’Neill (Glenside, Pa./Abington) placed sixth in 17:33.12 while Abigail Buckley (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan Aberdeen) was eighth.
Meghan Keithly (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) won the 100 free in a time of 51.41 seconds. It marked her fourth individual title of the championships. Mikaela Lantz (Reading, Pa./21st Century Cyber School) was second behind Keithly in 51.90 seconds. Sydney Wareham (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal) was eighth in 53.10.
Wright followed up that event with her win in the 200 back, posting a time of 2:00.17. Teammate Megan Burns (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) was second in 2:02.49. Emelie Johansson (Taby, Sweden) was runner-up in the 200 breaststroke, touching out in 2:19.22. Sarah Fisher (Conshohocken, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) was sixth in 2:25.56.
West Chester’s 400 free relay closed out the championships with a win, recording a time of 3:28.27. That team consisted of Hayward, Wareham, Morgan Haney (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and Lantz.
Taking third place in the team standings was Shippensburg with 796 points. Indiana (Pa.) was fourth with 760.5 and Clarion was fifth with 672. Edinboro was sixth (666), Gannon seventh (500), California (Pa.) eighth (453), East Stroudsburg ninth (402), Millersville 10th (308), Kutztown 11th (208) and Lock Haven 12th (161).
The women’s swimming team will now prepare for nationals, which will take place during the DII Festival in March.
News courtesy of West Chester Athletics.
