By Emma Foster, Swimming World College Intern
The second day of prelims at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference was highlighted by Westminster Senior Matthew Baurle’s meet record in the 100 breast. Baurle put it all out there this morning and will go into the men’s 100 breast tonight with a seed 2 seconds faster than anyone else, posting a 55.61 which broke his own pool and PAC Meet record from last year. Kevin Dunigan followed in 57.68, while Adam Smale was third in 59.56.
In the women’s 200 IM Saint Vincent College’s team of Cassaundra Trudel (28.28) Grace Reynolds (30.11) Katherine Guevara (27.16) and Katelyn Miller (26.22) grabbed the top seed with a time of 1:51.77. Westminster was second in 1:53.53, while Washington and Jefferson College was a very close third, clocking 1:53.76.
On the men’s side, Westminster claimed first with the team of Austin Karper (24.68) Baurle (25.70) Brad Kolesar (23.52) and Michael Spencer (21.04) qualifying first with a time of 1:34.94. Washington and Jefferson College was second with 1:36.40, while Grove City College finished third in 1:38.91.
In the women’s 400 IM Megan Bilko of Grove City College set herself up for her second individual win of the meet, qualifying for the top seed over 10 seconds ahead of the second person and grabbing her NCAA B-Cut in the process. She finished in 4:31.74. Her teammate Megan Smith will go into finals second with a swim of 4:41.86, while Kelly Kramer of Saint Vincent College was third in 4:48.42.
Luke Simmons of Westminster grabbed the top seed in the men’s 400 IM with a swim of 4:12.66. He was followed by Nick Kost of Penn State Behrend who clocked a 4:18.54, while Adam Smale was third in 4:21.25.
The women’s 100 fly promises to be a fast race with the top three women all clearing the 59-second barrier. Alexis Glenn of Washington and Jefferson College nabbed the top spot with a swim of 58.29. She was followed by Megan Douds of Westminster who was 58.76, while Marissa Frollo of Saint Vincent College was third in 58.95.
Brad Kolesar of Westminster will go into finals of the men’s 100 fly with the top spot, swimming a 51.28. Rhys Dickhudt of Grove City College was just behind him in 52.24, while teammate Jeremy Kim was third in 52.35.
Maddie Bartrug of Saint Vincent College dropped more than a second to claim the top spot in the women’s 200 free, clocking a 1:53.91. She was followed by Aureli Sheehan of Chatham University who was 1:56.27, while Abby Jank of Grove City College was 1:56.84.
On the men’s side, Mitch Stahara beat out David Peffer by 7-hundredths of a second to get the top spot in the 200 free posting a 1:41.90 to Pfeffer’s 1:41.97. Alex Bolen was third in 1:44.90.
In the women’s 100 breast the top three are separated by just 3-tenths of a second. Samantha Tower of Westminster was first in 1:07.30 followed closely by Grace Reynolds of Saint Vincent (1:07.66) and Megan Crutcher (1:07.68).
In the final event of the morning, the 100 back saw Sarah Sheldon of Saint Vincent nab the first place seed with a time of 59.43. She is followed by teammate Cassaundra Trudel who swam a 59.57, while Kelsey Reott will go in third with a time of 1:00.35.
On the men’s side, Peffer swam his second event of the day, following up his second seed in the 200 free with a top seed in the 100 back. Peffer swam a 51.73 which was followed by Cheyne Stresky of Bethany College who was 52.44, while Nicholas Willison of Washington and Jefferson was third in 52.76.
Finals will take off tonight at 6 pm. Meet results can be found at Meet Mobile.
