49th Annual PSAC Men's Swimming Championships Preview
Feb. 21, 2007
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. - The 49th annual Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Men’s Swimming Championships are set to begin on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007 and for the first time in the event’s history, it will be held away from a PSAC school campus and at the Cumberland Valley High School Natatorium in Mechanicsburg.
Action will begin with the men and women’s 1,000-yard freestyle at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday evening. On Friday through Sunday, preliminaries will start at 10:00 a.m. and the finals will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at the door. An all-session pass for adults is $35, while preliminary passes are $5 and finals passes are $7. Students with a PSAC ID will be admitted free of charge. Tickets for all other students are $2 for an individual session or $10 for an all-session pass.
Featured at this year’s championship are four swimmers that combined to win eight events at the PSAC Championships a year ago. There are also 10 returning all-conference performers and 28 individuals who have recorded NCAA qualifying marks in 2007.
While the individual races should be tightly contested, West Chester, which has won eight-straight team championships, appears to be the favorite once again. The Golden Rams, under 19th-year head coach Jamie Rudisill, will be looking to win their 19th overall title. The team enters the championships with an 8-2 dual meet record and has tallied convincing victories over Clarion and Shippensburg.
Sixteen Golden Rams qualified for action and seven of those swimmers earned all-conference honors in 2006 with 13 recording NCAA qualifying marks this season.
There is a pair of teams with a great deal of swimming tradition looking to dethrone the Golden Rams. Clarion, winners of 23 PSAC titles, enters the competition with 17 swimmers and a 6-5-1 dual meet record. Seventh-year head coach Mark Van Dyke and the the Golden Eagles, with 441 points, finished runner-up to West Chester’s 617 in 2006.
Ninth-year head coach Tim Verge and the Shippensburg Red Raiders are coming off a third-place finish in 2006 and are looking for their first team title since winning four of five from 1990-94. The squad posted a 5-1-1 dual meet record this season, with their only loss coming against West Chester.
Shippensburg also led Clarion 140-122 after the swimming events, but gave up 18 in diving, which tied the meet at 140-140 back on November 4.
Also competing in the championship are Bloomsburg, Edinboro, Indiana (Pa.) and Kutztown.
One of the top individual swimmers in this year’s championship is West Chester junior Devin Canfield. He is the returning champion in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke and the 200 back. Canfield is the top seed in the 200 back with an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:52.06. He is seeded second in the 100 fly and 100 back, but has posted NCAA qualifying times in both events.
Clarion's Adley Kilgore is a favorite to win the 50 freestyle after placing second a year ago at the conference meet and third at the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships. He won the 50 free in 2005 and will also challenge in the 100 freestyle where he is currently seeded second.
Shippensburg senior Mike Owen is also the defending champ in three events after winning the 200-yard freestyle, 500 free and the 1,000 free a year ago. He is seeded in the top four in all three events and has two NCAA qualifying times to his credit.
West Chester senior Cody Clauser will be one of Owen’s top competitors in the 1,000 free. He placed second in the event last season and is seeded second this year. Clauser is also the top seed in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:09.66), an event that he won last year.
Other returning champions include West Chester seniors Joerg Zimmermann (200-yard butterfly) and Jeremy Sherin (100-yard breaststroke).
Zimmerman is the top seed in both the 200 fly (1:52.33) and the 100-yard butterfly (50.14 seconds) and has posted NCAA “A” cut times in both events. Meanwhile, Sherin is seeded No. 2 in the 100 breast with an NCAA “B” cut time of 57.80 seconds.
The top seed in the 100 back is Indiana (Pa.) sophomore Pawel Glowiak who has an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 51.12 seconds. He finished second behind Canfield in last year’s championship.
Another swimmer to watch for is West Chester junior Marek Malopolski. He is the No. 1 seed in the 200-yard IM (1:56.30), the 100-yard breaststroke (57.05) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:05.87). His times in the 100 and 200 breast are both NCAA “A” cut times.
Malopolski’s classmate, Bartosz Ostrowski, is seeded first in the 200 free (1:40.31) and the 100-yard freestyle (45.46 seconds) and holds NCAA “A” qualifying marks in both events as well.
One of the top relay events to watch will be the 200-yard freestyle relay, in which defending champion Clarion, despite an NCAA “A” cut time of 1:23.06, is seeded second behind West Chester (1:22.61).
Clarion, however, holds the No. 1 seed in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:33.46. West Chester is seeded second with a mark of 1:33.62.
- PSAC Men's Swimming -
