Youth Rises to the Surface

SELINSGROVE, Pa. — The new millennium dawned last season for the Susquehanna University men’s and women’s swimming teams just as both teams turned the page and began to rewrite the history books in a year the Middle Atlantic Conference championships came to Susquehanna for the first time.

On the women's side, the Crusaders finished the 1999-2000 third out of 11 teams at the MACs and 7-3 in the regular season — their best dual meet record since 1988-89. For the men, Susquehanna has its first two MAC champions while finishing fifth at the meet. In the regular season the Crusaders swam to their first winning record, a 5-4 mark in the dual meet season.

Neither of the MAC Champions return for the men’s team and the women’s team lost two key parts of their team to graduation, but 22nd-year head coach Ged Schweikert still returns nine men’s and 13 women’s letterwinners. The women's side also returns every medalist from the 2000 conference championships.

Still, the focus is on the sizable contingent of freshman and sophomore swimmers on both the men’s and women’s teams. A quick glance of the preseason rosters for both squads reflects the trend toward youth, as 16 of the 23 women’s team members and 13 of the 17 men’s swimmers are in their first two years at Susquehanna.

“Our women’s team has five or six very good freshman, which gives us a lot more depth than we had last year,” said Schweikert. “Our men’s team will also depend on the freshmen and sophomores, especially the sprinters.”

After kicking off the preseason with a fifth-place finish at the annual Middle Atlantic Conference relays at Albright College, the Crusaders hit the pool on Saturday, November 11 against Lebanon Valley and came away with victories on both the men’s (108-66) and women’s (117-79) sides. There are a total of 11 women’s meets and 10 men’s competitions on the schedule, including home contests against Dickinson (November 17), Lycoming (November 29), Scranton (January 13) and King’s (February 10).

The MAC championships will be contested February 16-18 at the University of Scranton.

MEN’S PREVIEW

Schweikert and the rest of the men's squad will miss the talents of former captain Steve Fischer, who ended his four-year career with Susquehanna as the school's first MAC champion as he won the 200-yard butterfly last February. Looking to partially fill the big shoes will be senior co-captains Sam Frank (Northfield, Conn./Litchfield H.S.) and J.C. Owens (Mt. Carmel, Pa./Mt. Carmel), who were team captains along with Fischer last winter.

Last season, Frank was a team leader at MACs, swimming legs of two third-place relay teams that set school record in the 200 and 400-yard medley relays.

Individually at the championships, Frank swam the team's fastest times in the breaststroke. He finished eighth overall in the 100-yard breast with a time of 1:05.49, while finishing ninth in the 200-yard with a 2:23.35. Both times were the team's fastest in the events for teh season. Frank rounded out his MACs performance with an eight place finish in the 200-yard individual medley.

Owens missed much of the 1999-2000 season with recurring shoulder problems, but Schweikert is impressed more by what he contributes outside the pool.

“J.C. has been swimming in a great deal of pain,” said Schweikert. “But he has always had a solid work ethic, and is constantly on the bike and running to stay in top condition.”

Senior Mike Kelly (Pittsburgh/Brentwood H.S.) did not compete last season, but is back on the squad looking to repeat his success as a sophomore, when he made the MAC meet in the 50-yard freestyle.

The lone junior on this year's team is Michael Pfeiffer (York, Pa./West York). Pfeiffer qualified for the conference meet in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles, but failed to advance to the finals in those events. He swam :24.65 in the 50, and :54.34 in the 100 at the meet.

Five sophomores return this year with one season of collegiate experience. Leading the way for this class will be Jesse Lausch (Ephrata/Ephrata H.S.). Schweikert praises the sophomore who finished 10th in the conference in the 200-yard individual medley with at time of 2:14.79 last year.

“We asked Jesse to work on the IM in practice last season, and we were impressed by his time,” said Schweikert. He also was a member of a seventh place 800-yard freestyle relay team at the championships and he qualified for the meet in the 100 and 500-yard freestyle.

Sophomores Matt Harris (Mineola, N.Y./Chaminade H.S.) and Jeff Ehrman (Monroeville, N.J./Woodstown) will provide the team with some depth in the breastoke events and on the relays.

Harris qualified for the MAC Championships in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 100-breast — an event in which he missed advancing past preliminaries by just one second (1:08.78).

Another pair of sophomores — Greg Von Rump (Mystic, Conn./Robert E. Fitch H.S.) and Brett Schrader (Auburn, Pa./Blue Mountain) are expected to return strongly in the freestyle events. The duo teamed up with Lausch and Franks for a seventh place finish at MACs in the 800-meter freestyle relay

Von Rump, who last year had the team;s fastest times in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard fresstylee events, is the team's top returning distance swimmer. Schrader qualified for MACs in the 100-free.

WOMEN’S PREVIEW

The 1999-2000 women's did not like to share the wealth — with three swimmers keeping six of the medals presented at last winter’s MAC Champioships in Selinsgrove.

Junior Michelle Badorf (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor H.S.) was the greediest of all, winning three medals for the second consecutive year at the championships. She repeated her second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke (2:15.63) and also her third-place finish in the 100-back (1:04.22). After setting a new school record while finishing second at the 1999 MACs in the 200-yard freestyle (2:00.92), she switched gears in 2000 and finished third in the 200-individual medley (2:19.64).

Badorf also participated in four placewinning relays in the MACs. For the year, she had the team's best time in 7 events, including 3 relays.

Badorf holds the school records in both the 200-free (2:00.92, 1999) and 200-back (2:15.10, 1999), and has swam on the school record 800-yard free relay (8:19.45).

Sophomore Katie McKeever (Norristown, Pa./Methacton H.S.) set three new school records in MACs in the 100-yard (1:10.35) and 200-yard (2:31.68) breaststrokes and the 100-yard butterfly (1:02.82). She also swam on four place winning relays.

For the year, McKeever had the team’s best times in the 50-yard freestyle (26.42), the 100-butterfly and the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes. The four relays at the MACs also were the team’s best times on the year.

Senior co-captain Charlotte Murray (Hummelstown, Pa./Hershey H.S.) was third at MACs in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:07.83), sixth in the 500-free, and 12th in the 200-yard free (2:12.81). Murray also was on two placewinning relays at MACs.

For the year, she had the team’s best times in the 500 (5:32.65), 1,000 (11:30.10) and 1,650 (19:07.83) freestyle, and swam on the fastest relays in three events.

Junior co-captain Val Bodam (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville H.S.) was fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at MACs with a time of 2:23.27, and 10th in the 400-IM with a time of 5:06.85 last season. She also swam the legs on three placewinning relays.

She also was a member of the 400-yard medley relay team which finished fifth at MACs with a season best time of 4:21.14.

Yet another junior, Kristy Truitt (Paxinos, Pa./Shamokin H.S.), helped the 400-yard freestyle relay team to a fifth-place finish (3:53.30) and the 800-yard free relay team to sixth place (8:25.28). Truitt finished 10th in the 400-yard individual medley and 500-freestyle , despite being slowed by a shoulder injury. She also qualified for the championships in the 200-yard butterfly, but did not swim the event at the meet because of the injury.

“Kristy is a very versatile swimmer for us,” said Schweikert. “She is capable of going any distance — from 50 up to 1000 meters.”

Last season, Truitt had the team’s best time in the 400-yard IM (5:12.28) and the 200-butterfly (2:33.67).

Junior Christy Shulick (Naugatuck, Conn./Naugatuck H.S.) was part of the sixth-place 200-yard medley relay team which posted a season best 1:59.84. Individually, she qualified for the championships in the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke.

Sophomore Nicole Kadingo (Orwigs-burg, Pa./Nativity B.V.M.) qualified for the MAC championship meet in three events- the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke.

Sophomore distance freestyler Ellie McCutcheon (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain H.S.) was a top distance swimmer in 200. She placed fifth at the MACs in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:20.12), eighth in the 500-free (5:38.86), and 23rd in the 200-free (2:12.08).

“Ellie was a pleasant surprise for us last year,” noted Schweikert. “She should be one of our better distance swimmers again this season.”

Also returning are senior fly/freestyler Sarah Hancock (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford H.S.), junior freestylers Bridget O' Malley (Dalton, Pa./Scranton Prep) and Anja Santiago (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk H.S.), and sophomores Lisa Schanberger (Hanover, Pa./Southwestern H.S.) and Michelle Thurstlic (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley H.S.).