SELINSGROVE, Pa. — The Susquehanna University men’s and women’s swimming teams will host the Middle Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships for the first time in the program’s 21-year history Friday through Sunday at the O.W. Houts Gymnasium pool — and both apparently picked a good year to host.
The Crusader women won their last four meets to finish with their best dual meet record since 1988-89 by going 7-3 overall, finishing second in the MAC Commonwealth Conference at 4-1. The men also won their last four to post their first winning season since 1991-92 by going 5-4 overall, 2-2 in the Commonwealth Conference. Both are under the direction of 21st-year head coach Ged Schweikert.
Each team hopes to use the momentum of their successful dual meet seasons along with the excitement of hosting the conference championship for the first time to post their best placements at the MAC meet. The women equaled their best placement at the MAC meet last season, finishing fifth out of 11 teams, while the men were sixth out of 10 at MACs a year ago. The men’s team’s best finish at the conference meet is fourth in 1996-97.
“This campus has never seen anything like what they are going to see next weekend, or heard anything like they are going to hear,” said Schweikert.
“Anytime you are at home, you have a little advantage, but the conference is so competitive that the advantage is fairly small. It’s not like a football field, it’s a pool — water is water. The teams have been working really hard, I think they are going to be prepared.”
There will be five sessions at this weekend’s championship. Friday will only feature a 7 p.m. session, while Saturday will have trials starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 7 p.m., and Sunday having trials at 10 a.m., and finals beginning at 6.
Ticket prices will be $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and $2 for students for a single session, and $10 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $5 for students for all-session tickets.
MEN’S MAC OUTLOOK
Senior tri-captain Steve Fischer (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood H.S.) continues to lead the men’s team — posting the team’s fastest times in the 100-yard butterfly (:56.54), 200-butterfly (2:07.13), 100-breast (1:05.58), 200-individual medley (2:05.31) and 400-IM (4:34.98). He has also swam legs on both the fastest 200-yard medley relay (1:45.73) and 200-free relay (1:36.24). Fischer is the school record-holder in both the 200 (2:05.07, 1998) and 400 (4:34.98, 2000) IM — breaking his own school record in the 400 in the team’s final meet at King’s. He also had the program’s second fastest time ever in the 200 (2:07.90) with a winning performance vs. Western Maryland on November 20.
Fischer is seeded first in the conference going into the championships in the 200-IM, 400-IM and both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. He is more than two full seconds faster than second-seeded Erik Posegay of Albright (2:07.36) in the 200-IM. Fischer is also seeded sixth in the 100-breast.
Freshman Luke Peterson (Huntingdon Valley/Lower Moreland H.S.) went from a successful debut season in cross country in the fall to becoming one of the men’s swimming team’s most successful performers this winter. Peterson has the squad’s best times thus far in, 100-backstroke (:58.67) and 200-backstroke (2:10.26), also swimming on the fastest 200-medley and 200-freestyle relays. His season best time in the 100-back came in a winning performance vs. Albright and is the second fastest in program history (Record: :57.66, Dave Moretz, 1994). Peterson has the MAC’s fourth-fastest times in both the 100 and 200-back coming into championships. Peterson also swam on the team’s fastest 200-yard medley (1:45.73) and 200-free (1:36.24) relays.
Junior tri-captain Sam Frank (Northfield, Conn./Litchfield H.S.) has the team’s fastest time this year in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.68), and is presently ranked 12th in the event as of the latest MAC rankings. He also is 10th in the 100-breast (1:07.66), and has joined both Fischer and Peterson on the squad’s fastest 200-medley and 200-free relay teams.
Freshman Lee Clemens (Schnecksville/Parkland H.S.) has posted the team’s fastest times in the 50 (:23.58) and 100-yard (:52.14) freestyle events, and is ranked 12th and 19th respectively in the conference.
Fellow freshman Jesse Lausch (Ephrata/Ephrata H.S.) has the team’s fastest time in the 500-yard freestyle (5:28.78), while yet another freshman in Kurt Fisher (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg H.S.) has the best times in the 1,000 (11:35.41) and 1,650 (19:27.5) freestyle. Both are presently ranked near the middle in the MAC in those events.
Clemens has also been a part of the fastest 200-medley relay, Lausch the fastest 400-free relay (3:33.01) and Fisher the fastest 400-medley relay (3:54.77).
WOMEN’S MAC PREVIEW
Freshman Katie McKeever (Worcester/Methacton H.S.) and sophomore Michelle Badorf (Lancaster/Penn Manor H.S.) have continued to lead the women’s swimmers this season — although junior tri-captain Charlotte Murray (Hummelstown/Hershey H.S.) is now back from her semester abroad and getting faster with each meet.
McKeever has shattered new school records in both the 100 (1:11.01) and 200-yard (2:35.72) breaststroke, and ranks third in the conference in each — trailing only Albright’s freshmen Courtney Kroh (1:10.36, 2:30.76) and Kris Leung (1:10.93, 2:33.85). McKeever also had the team’s fastest times this season in both the 50-yard freestyle (:26.42) and 100-butterfly (1:04.96), ranking 12th and 19th in the conference respectively. She has also been a part of the team’s fastest 200-medley (2:01.33), 400-medley (4:25.71) and 200-free (1:50.23) relay teams.
Badorf was second at MACs last season and set new school records in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:00.92) and 200-yard backstroke (2:17.71) last season. She also swam the second fastest time in school history (1:03.53, Jenn Elkins, 1995) in the 100-back last season (1:03.78), while placing third in the conference.
This season, she has the team’s fastest times in all those events — ranking third in the conference in the 200-back (2:19.37), fifth in the 100 (1:04.96), and eighth in the 200-freestyle (2:03.86). She also has the team’s best time in the 100-free (:58.15) and 200- individual medley (2:21.99) to rank ninth and 11th respectively in the conference. Badorf has additionally been a part of all four of the team’s fastest relays — adding the 400-free (3:59.07) to the list previously mentioned with McKeever. Badorf swam the lead leg of the 800-free relay team which set a new school record (8:19.45) last season at MACs.
An Academic All-America hopeful, Murray was second in the conference in the 1650-yard freestyle last season, setting a new school record with a time of 18:43.80. She would also set a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.98 to place third at MACs.
Despite starting slow after studying abroad first semester, Murray has the team’s best times in the 500-yard freestyle (5:40.94), 1,000-free (11:30.10) and 1,650-free (19:19.3) — ranking third in the 1,650, sixth in the 1,000 and 12th in the 500 in the conference going into championships.
Sophomore Kristy Truitt (Paxinos/Shamokin H.S.) swam the second leg of the record-setting 800-free relay team last season, and has the team’s best time this season in both the 400-yard IM (5:12.80) and 200 butterfly (2:33.67) — ranking eighth and 15th respectively in the conference. Also ranked 16th in the 100-free (:58.52) and 17th in the 500 (5:41.93), she has also been on the squad’s two fastest medley relay teams.
Murray has been primarily pushed in the distance freestyle events by Ellie McCutcheon (Orwigsburg/Blue Mountain H.S.), who owns the conference’s fifth-fastest time in the 1,650 (19:37.77), and 10th-fastest in the 1,000 (11:37.75).
The Crusaders could also get some points in the backstroke from another freshman in Lisa Schanberger (Hanover/South Western H.S.), who is ranked 12th in the conference in the 100 (1:07.63) and 13th in the 200 (2:28.86). Schanberger has also swam on the team’s two fastest freestyle relay teams.
Sophomore Val Bodam (Phoenixville/Phoenixville H.S.) is another Crusader who could score points at MACs this weekend as she is ranked 13th in the 200-breast (2:44.30), 15th in the 200-IM (2:24.48) and 16th in the 100-breast (1:16.05).
While she may not figure much in the scoring individually, senior tri-captain Trisha Krusman (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg H.S.) will also play a key role for the team as she has been on all four of its fastest relays this season.
