A member of the Clarion men’s swimming team (left) competes against Shippensburg in Tippin Gymnasium on Saturday. (Angela Kelly / The Clarion Call)
The Golden Eagles Swimming teams took on Shippensburg on Saturday. Both the women and men’s teams won the meet. The ladies scored 176-118, and the men had 170 over Shippensburg’s 123.
Kaitlyn Johnson is staying strong for the Ladies. She had three more wins Saturday, taking the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.19, the 200 free with 1:56.20 and the 100 butterfly with 58.19. Morgan Oberlander won the 100 fly with a time of 2:09.75 and the 400 IM with 4:41.21.
Courtney Bogue took first in the 100 and the 200 backstroke.
Kayla Kelosky won the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter dive.
Kayla Shull, Megan Burrows, Johnson and Jamie Maloney took first in the 200 yard medley relay and the team of Bogue, Kelly Connolly, Oberlander and Gina Mattucci took second for this event.
Clarion had three other girls who brought the team wins on Saturday. Connolly won the 100 breaststroke, Mattucci won the 50 free, and Madison Sewell took the 200 breaststroke.
The ladies are now 2-0 and will travel to Duquesne for their first away meet on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Men’s Swimming Team was led once again by Ryan Thiel and Rich Eckert.
After the Clarion Invite on Oct. 25, Eckert said, “It feels good to actually get in the water to race someone. We were just excited to actually have an opportunity to race against each other and other teams.” Shippensburg “has become a big rivalry meet for us and it’s important for us to win that meet.”
The guys did indeed win that meet.
Thiel took the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.01 and the 100 freestyle with 46.59. Eckert won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.07 and the 200 breaststroke with 2:13.18.
Eckert said, “The team looks strong once again this year. We only lost two seniors last year and we have bought in some valuable freshman. Our senior class has four very strong swimmers that all can win or place in the top three in the conference this year. We have a very competitive group of core guys.”
The guys also had others win individual events. Dustin Fedunok won the 200 freestyle, Andrew Claypool took the 100 butterfly, Justin Duncan won the 1 meter dive and Logan Pearsall took the 3 meter dive. Pearsall took second in the 1 meter dive while Duncan took second in the 3 meter dive.
Jon Kofmehl, Eckert, Claypool and Thiel took the 200-yard medley relay. The 200-yard freestyle relay went to the team compiled of Joseph Ward, Claypool, Christopher Ellson and Thiel. Benjamin Appleby, Garet Weston, Brandon Boyer and Robert Schwartz took second in this race.
“The entire team is working extremely hard and everyone is excited to see the results for the first time in December at the Akron Invite,” said Eckert.
The guys will also travel to Duquesne Saturday, hoping to make their 1-1 record 2-1.
