ERIE, Pa. – Fresh off a tough winter training session, the Gannon swim teams won 13 events and recorded 29 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) qualifying times during a dual-meet split against NCAA Division I Canisius on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at the Carneval Athletic Pavilion. The Lady Knights posted a 127-78 victory while the men fell by a 111-94 score.
The women's team was dominant during the final home meet of the season, capturing gold in eight of the 11 events. Both relay teams proved to be the best. The 400-yard medley relay team of
Kelsey Williams (Danville, Pa./Danville Area),
Katie Vincent (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus),
Amanda Knapp (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) and
Katie Joseph (McDonald, Ohio/McDonald) kicked off the action with a victory in four minutes and 8.02 seconds.
The 200-yard freestyle team capped the women's action with a victory in one minute and 42.27 seconds. The foursome of
Emily Nottingham (Titusville, Pa./Titusville),
Shanen Lazenby (Erie, Pa./McDowell),
Michelle Fischl (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Salem) and
Morgan Lydic (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Cuyahoga Falls) combined to record the win.
In addition to helped the 200-yard freestyle team win gold, Lydic was a triple-winner after touching the wall first in the 50-yard freestyle (25.23) and the 100-yard freestyle (54.11). Both marks met conference-qualifying standards.
Charlene Lichota (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) drew a nice round of applause early in the meet. The junior broke the pool record in the 1,650-yard freestyle, finishing first with a PSAC-qualifying time of 18 minutes and 7.33 seconds.
Vincent and Joseph were double-winners, taking home both a relay and individual title. Vincent won the 100-yard breaststroke with a conference-qualifying time of one minute and 9.48 seconds. Joseph performed her indy feat in the 200-yard freestyle with a conference time of two minutes and 0.6 seconds.
Madeline Summers (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens) rounded out the women's gold medalists in the 100-yard backstroke with a winning time of one minute and 0.58 seconds. Much like the other five individual winners, she met PSAC-qualifying standards with her winning time.
Six remaining women's times met conference standards during non-title performances. Williams met the right times twice in the 400-yard IM (2nd, 4:45.16) and the 100-yard backstroke (3rd, 1:01.50). Other PSAC times included Lazenby in the 200-yard freestyle (2nd, 2:00.19), Fischl in the 400-yard IM (3rd, 4:54.48), Knapp in the 100-yard butterfly (3rd, 1:02.07) and
Janelle McDaniels (Edwardsville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) in the 100-yard breaststroke (2nd, 1:10.97).
As the women did, the Gannon men's squad swept the relay events. The Golden Knights opened with a victory as
Adam Chrzanowski (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep),
Alex Fisher (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area),
Ethan Chase (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) and
Nick Wolhaupter (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) won the 400-yard medley relay in three minutes and 35.67 seconds. The group beat the next best team by almost seven seconds.
The afternoon concluded with a thrilling 800-yard freestyle relay than ended in a photo finish.
Terrance Coughran (Atwater, Calif./Atwater),
Ryan Carter (Yorktown, Va./Grafton),
Alex Dovale (Cape Town, South Africa/South African College) and Chrzanowski raised their hands in victory. After the opening three went toe-to-toe with the Canisius squad, Chrzanowski barely touched the wall first with a time of seven minutes and 8.55 seconds. The margin of victory was 0.12 second.
Chrzanowski added an individual title in the 200-yard freestyle to become a triple-winner. The sophomore won the event with a PSAC-qualifying time of one minute and 45.08 seconds.
Chase was a double-winner, out-swimming the competition in the 50-yard freestyle. His 22.03 time met conference standards.
Mike Lawrence (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Notre-Dame-des-Grands-Lacs) took home the men's final championship in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a PSAC time of 16 minutes and 53.03 seconds.
The men's success didn't stop with gold medals. Another 14 PSAC-qualifying times were recorded in other top-five finishes. Those performances included Coughran in the 200-yard freestyle (3rd, 1:48.15) and the 500-yard freestyle (5th, 4:57.84). Wolhaupter did it in the 50-yard freestyle (3rd, 22.17) and the 100-yard freestyle (2nd, 48.96).
Nathan Bean (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) met the standards in the 50-yard freestyle (4th, 22.51) and the 100-yard butterfly (4th, 55.02). Carter was right in the 400-yard IM (3rd, 4:29.83) and the 100-yard backstroke (2nd, 56.54).
The list was rounded out by
Tommy Herman (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) in the 1,650-yard freestyle (5th, 17:41.24), Dovale in the 400-yard IM (2nd, 4:24.88),
Logan Bissell (Yorktown, Va./York) in the 400-yard IM (4th, 4:31.27), Chase in the 100-yard butterfly (2nd, 52.24), Lawrence in the 500-yard freestyle (3rd, 4:57.14) and Fisher in the 100-yard breaststroke (2nd, 1:02.14).
The Gannon women's team improved to 7-6 while the men's squad dropped to 6-5. Canisius moved to 5-4 in men's action and 4-6 on the women's side. Head coach
Nathan Walters' swim teams have two weeks off before concluding the regular season January 25-26 at the Indiana (Pa.) Invitational.
