ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon 200-yard freestyle relay team pulled off a nail-biting victory by 0.16 second during the final event of the night and stunned Bloomsburg 103-102 in men's swimming action before a raucous crowd Friday night at the Carneval Athletic Pavilion. The verdict completed the sweep as the women's team posted a 118.5-86.5 victory.
The men's competition was as tight as the score with Gannon winning six of the 11 events. The Golden Knights jumped out to a 24-17 lead after the first three races. The 200-yard medley relay team opened the night with a first-place finish. Ryan Carter (Yorktown, Va./Grafton), Logan Bissell (Yorktown, Va./York),
Ethan Chase (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) and Terrance Coughran (Atwater, Calif./Atwater) had a winning time of one minute and 39.61 seconds.
Individual victories followed in the 1,000-yard freestyle by Mike Lawrence (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Notre-Dame-des-Grands-Lacs) (9:59.58) and the 200-yard freestyle by Adam Chrzanowski (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) (1:44.17). Both marks met Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) qualifying times. Points were added in the 200-yard freestyle with conference-qualifying marks by Carter (2nd, 1:46.92) and Coughran (5th, 1:49.51).
Bloomsburg responded with three consecutive victories, before Chase stopped the momentum with a win in the 100-yard butterfly. The senior touched the wall first with a PSAC-qualifying time of 52.72 seconds. Chrzanowski added his second individual title by meeting conference standards in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.34 seconds.
The visitors regained the lead at 96-92 with three scoring finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke, including nine points from the gold medal. It set up the deciding race in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Gannon could only win the meet with a victory.
And the final was a doozy. Coughran, Alex Dovale (Cape Town, South Africa/South African College), Chrzanowski and Nick Wolhaupter (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) narrowly captured the win. The foursome posted a 0.16 victory margin with a 1:27.40 time compared to Bloomsburg's 1:27.56 mark. With the full house rising to its feet during the final leg, the Gannon fans began celebrating with the close win.
Chrzanowski led the men's squad as a triple-winner. Chase and Coughran were double-winners. Fifteen PSAC-qualifying times were set by Golden Knights. Lawrence (1,000-freestyle / 9:59.58 and 500-yard freestyle / 4:51.20), Chrzanowski (200-yard freestyle / 1:44.17 and 100-yard backstroke / 53.34), Chase (100-yard fly / 52.72 and 50-yard freestyle / 22.13), Carter (200-yard freestyle / 1:46.92 and 500-yard freestyle / 4:58.22), Wolhaupter (50-yard freestyle / 22.22 and 100-yard freestyle / 48.36) and Bissell (400-yard IM / 4:28.29 and 100-yard breaststroke / 1:02.34) met conference standards in two events each.
The men's PSAC times were wrapped up by Coughran in the 200-yard freestyle, Dovale in the 400-yard IM (4:29.31) and Michael Decsey (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) in the 100-yard backstroke (56.67).
Gannon won on the women's side with a little more ease, taking gold during eight of 11 events. Both relay teams were the best. The 200-yard medley team of
Madeline Summers (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens),
Katie Vincent (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus),
Amanda Knapp (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) and
Morgan Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Cuyahoga Falls) opened the night by posting a winning time of one minute and 52.54 seconds.
The evening concluded with the 200-yard freestyle team of Lydic,
Shanen Lazenby (Erie, Pa./McDowell),
Michelle Fischl (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Salem) and
Katie Joseph (McDonald, Ohio/McDonald) earning gold with a time of one minute and 39.98 seconds.
Joseph and Lydic headlined the women's show as triple winners. In addition to being part of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team, Joseph was the best in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.84) and the 100-yard freestyle (53.99). Both times met conference standards while her 200-yard freestyle time was only almost a second off the NCAA “B” cut standard. Lydic added a 50-yard freestyle title to her two relay wins, getting a PSAC time of 24.75 seconds. It was only 0.44 second shy of an NCAA “B” cut time.
Individual victories were wrapped up with Knapp in the 200-yard IM (2:15.30), Vincent in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.34) and
Kelsey Williams (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.53). All three marks equaled PSAC-qualifying times.
In all, 11 conference-qualifying times were met on the women's side. That group was rounded out by Lazenby in the 200-yard freestyle (2nd, 2:00.70), Summers in the 200-yard freestyle (4th, 2:01.04),
Emily Nottingham (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) in the 50-yard freestyle (2nd, 25.37), Fischl in the 100-yard breaststroke (2nd, 1:09.51) and Janelle McDaniel (Edwardsville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) in the 100-yard breaststroke (3rd, 1:10.55).
Both Gannon swim teams evened their dual records to 2-2 with Friday's sweep. Bloomsburg fell to 1-2 in both women's and men's action. The Gannon swim teams return to action Saturday, November 3 at the California (Pa.) Tri-Meet. Millersville will join Gannon and Cal. The meet is scheduled for 2 p.m.
