Sports

Clarion men’s and women’s swimmers sets records at Nationals

The Clarion Golden Eagle men’s and women’s swimming teams competed at the NCAA Division II swimming and diving nationals in San Antonio, Texas, on March 9 through March
12.

Clarion senior diver Kayla Kelosky won the NCAA Division II three-meter and one-meter diving championships, and senior freestyler Kaitlyn Johnson finished second in the
100-meter freestyle and third in the 100-meter fly helping Clarion to a fourth-place team finish.

Kelosky won the three-meter title scoring 481.70 points.

She also won the one-meter championship posting an NCAA Division II record scoring a total of 511.15 points breaking the previous record which was set in 2007 by Clarion’s
Jamie Wolf with 453.75 points.

Kelosky is now a five-time NCAA Champion.

She won three straight one-meter titles, and won the three-meter in 2009 and 2011.

Johnson entered the 2011 nationals as a 21-time All-American and finished as a seven-time All-American in 2011.

She equaled the maximum of 28 All-American honors in her four-year career.

She finished second in the 100-free with a time of 49.95.

She swam a time of 55.08 in the 100 fly and helped the 200 free relay to an eighth place finish with a time of 1:34.21.

The eighth place 200-free relay team was composed of Johnson, senior Gina Mattucci, senior Kelly Connolly and sophomore Kayla Shull.

Johnson along with Shull, sophomore Morgan Oberlander and junior Megan Burrows finished in sixth place in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:31.10.

Johnson, Mattucci, Shull and sophomore Rachel Tano placed sixth in the 400 free relay swimming a time of 3:25.83.

“Nationals went very well for us this year and we all had a lot of fun. The most exciting part of the whole trip was getting fourth place as a team, since it hasn’t happened in quite a
few years,” Shull said.

Shull set a new school record placing fifth in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 56.24.

Shull also finished 12th in the 100 free.

Also placing for the Golden Eagle women were junior Courtney Bogue, Connolly, Tano and Oberlander.

Bogue placed eighth in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 57.55.

Connolly was 13th in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.97.

Tano finished 16th in the 200-meter breaststroke and Oberlander was seventh in the 200-meter butterfly.

Senior Kim Ogden was eighth in the three-meter diving with 410.60 points. Clarion’s fourth place team finish is the best under 11-year coach Mark VanDyke.

For the men, Clarion sophomore Joseph Ward finished fifth in the 100-meter freestyle helping the Golden Eagle men’s swimming and diving team to a 15th place team finish.

Ward placed fifth in the 100-free with a personal best time of 44.30. Clarion was the highest finishing PSAC team with 101 points, good for 15th place out of 30 teams.

Clarion senior diver Logan Pearsall became one of five NCAA Division II divers who shares the D-II record with four individual titles dating back to 1964 during the 2011 Nationals.

Pearsall won the three-meter and was second in the one-meter.

Pearsall set a new NCAA Division II record on the three-meter scoring 565.15 points, breaking the national record he set last year with 557.50 points.

He narrowly missed winning his fifth national championship finishing second in the one-meter diving with 500.10 points.

Logan, who is in his third year diving at Clarion, has won four of six NCAA National Championship events he has competed in.

He won both boards last year and was the NCAA Division II Diver of the Year.

Freshman Ethan Merritt placed fourth in the three-meter diving with 515.65 points, and junior Justin Ducan placed 10th with 464.15 points.

In the one-meter diving Merritt finished fourth scoring 482.95 points.

Freshman Seth Brandenburg finished 12th with 415.45 points and junior Justin Ducan was 16th with 401.85 points.

Clarion diving coach Dave Hrovat has now coached 38 NCAA Champions and 217 All-Americans as the men’s and women’s head coach at Clarion for 21 years.