Swimming and Diving: Men Crowned PAC Champs

GROVE CITY, Pa. - The Westminster College men's swimming and diving team was crowned the 2013 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) champion on Saturday, for its first conference championship since 2007, after it scored 741 points. The Titan women secured second-place with 775 points. The Championship was hosted at Grove City.

The Titan men needed a fifth-place finish or better in the final event (400 yard freestyle relay) to clinch the championship. Westminster garnered the title with a third-place finish with a time of 3:09.52. The quartet included sophomores David Starr (Pittsburgh, PA / Plum), Steven Brooks (Boardman, OH / Boardman), and Jake Pletz (Venetia, PA / Peters Township) and senior Dan Gutmann (Cranberry Twp., PA / Seneca Valley).

IMAGE COURTESY: PAC

The men also swept the top-3 spots in the 200 yard backstroke. Brooks led the way with a PAC meet record and an NCAA provisional time of 1:52.43. Pletz finished second (1:54.41) and freshman Austin Karper (Carlisle, PA / Carlisle) placed third (1:55.73).


Freshman Matt Baurle (Jeannette, PA / Penn Trafford) placed first in the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA provisional time of 2:04.31. Also earning first-place for the men was senior Alan Nedley (White, PA / Connellsville) who touched first in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:54.03. Freshman Jimmy Newman (Richboro, PA / Council Rock) added a second-place finish in the 1,650 yard freestyle (16:45.94).


For the women, junior Amanda Marlow (Twinsburg, OH / Twinsburg) finished second in the 200 yard butterfly with an NCAA provisional time of 2:07.01. Sophomore Ashley Wyland (Pittsburgh, PA / Taylor Allderdice) earned second-place in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 18:20.91, while the 400 yard freestyle relay team touched second at 3:37.94. The team included freshman Kelsey Reott (Butler, PA / Slippery Rock), sophomore Marina Rozick (Pittsburgh, PA / North Allegheny), Wyland, and junior Carrie Whisel (Boiling Springs, PA / Boiling Springs). Reott and junior Erin Erdley (Meadville, PA / Cochranton) earned second (2:07.78) and third-place (2:08.57) in the 200 yard backstroke, respectively.