SELINSGROVE, PA – The Susquehanna University men's and women's swimming teams will compete in the Middle Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships at the Wilkes-Barre Catholic Youth Center beginning at noon on Friday, February 10 through Sunday, February 12.

A total of 13 individual and five relay champions will be crowned in both men's and women's competition. Preliminaries will be held during the afternoon session while finals will be contested during the evening sessions.

The Susquehanna men (6-4 overall, 5-3 MAC) finished third out of 10 schools and the women (4-7 overall, 4-5 MAC) finished seventh out of 11 schools at the 2005 MAC championships. For the men, it was the highest team finish in program history while the women took seventh for the third straight year.

Performance lists were released on Wednesday afternoon with final scratches and heat assignments to be announced late Thursday. Swimmers are allowed to compete in a maximum of three individual events and seven total events (including relays) during the championships.

MEN'S PREVIEW

Sophomore Andrew Lyon (Glenside, PA/Cheltenham ) is the favorite to become Susquehanna's third individual MAC champion, joining Steve Fischer and Luke Peterson who won the 200 butterfly and 100 backstroke, respectively, at the 2000 championships.

Lyon is the top seed in both the 500 freestyle (4:59.52) and the 1650 freestyle (with a 1000-yard time of 10:18.00). Last season, Lyon placed fourth in the 1650 free and fifth in the 500 freestyle and already holds school records in both events. He is also ranked fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:50.50) and eighth in the 400 individual medley (4:38.98).

Sophomore Alex Thurstlic (Chadds Ford, PA/Garnet Valley) is seeded in the top 10 in six different individual events – fourth in the 100 backstroke (56.38 seconds), sixth in both the 200 individual medley (2:05.62) and 200 butterfly (2:09.02), eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:06.78) and 10 th in both the 200 backstroke (2:06.84) and 200 freestyle (1:50.96). Last year, Thurstlic finished fifth in both the 100 backstroke (55.65 seconds) and the 200 butterfly (2:03.10).

Sophomore Jeff Fornadley (Hummelstown, PA/Hershey) is ranked sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:50.55), seventh in the 50 freestyle (22.84 seconds) and 10 th in the 400 individual medley (4:41.71), after finishing second in the 50 free as a freshman with a school-record time of 21.84 seconds.

Senior Nick Hoover (Morrisville, PA/Notre Dame, NJ) is ranked fifth in the 100 backstroke (56.59 seconds) and ninth in the 200 backstroke (2:06.15), and finished ninth in the 200 back at last year's championship meet.

Susquehanna figures to be strong again in relays, as the Crusaders set school records in all five relay races at last year's championships. Susquehanna is seeded second in the 200 medley relay (1:41.81) and third in both the 400 free (3:21.71) and 800 free (7:26.07) relays.

WOMEN'S PREVIEW

Top seeds for the Crusader women include freshman Raquel Erwin (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood), who is ranked seventh in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.81 seconds, and senior Kelly Chamberlain (Kingston, PA/Wyoming Valley West), who ranks seventh in the 100 backstroke (1:04.03) and 11 th in the 200 freestyle (2:04.68).

Chamberlain finished 11 th in the 100 back at last year's championships after finishing 10 th in the event in 2004.

Sophomore Lindsey Moretti (Alfred, NY/Alfred-Almond) is the top returning women's finisher for the Crusaders after she placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:12.65 as a freshman. She is ranked 14 th in the event this season with a time of 1:14.52.

Also expected to contribute for the Crusaders are sophomore Samantha Meddaugh (Hamilton Square, NJ/Steinert) in the 500 and 1000 freestyle and sophomore Abby Letterese (Morristown, NJ/Morristown) in the 400 individual medley and 200 breaststroke.