Washington & Jefferson College Takes Third At PAC Swimming/Diving Championships
GROVE CITY, Pa. – Washington and Jefferson College seniors Bethany Haver (Akron. Ohio/Harvey S. Firestone) and Justin Weifenbach (Corapolis, Pa./Montour) completed a Presidents’ sweep of the diving events to highlight W&J on Saturday during the final day of action at the 2012 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at Grove City College.
Grove City won both championships for the fourth consecutive year. W&J Diving Coach Vic Galati was honored as the PAC Men's and Women's Diving Coach of the Year after guiding the Presidents to another sweep on both boards.
The Wolverine women totaled 933 points to easily defeat Westminster (665.5), W&J (648), Saint Vincent (438.5), Chatham (160) and Bethany (150).
The Grove City men widened their lead on Saturday and finished with 850 points to outdistance Westminster (711), W&J (451) and Saint Vincent (295).
Haver won a PAC diving championship for the seventh time during her four-year career after compiling 427.95 points in the 3-meter event. The two-time NCAA All-American now hopes to earn a second-straight invitation to the NCAA Division III Championships (Mar. 21-25, Indianapolis, Ind.).
Classmate Abbey Woodward (Beaver, Pa./Beaver) closed out her career with another PAC runner-up showing after compiling 363.30 points.
Weifenbach swept the diving events for a second-straight year after posting 367.30 points on the 1-meter board. Junior teammate John Szott (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) was the conference runner-up with 333.00 points.
Senior Brittany Vogel (Butler, Pa./Butler) recorded a pair of second-place finishes and set a school record for the W&J women during the final meet of her career. She smashed the school record as the runner-up in the 1650 freestyle (17:57.08) and then claimed second place in the 200 breaststroke (2:24.84). The previous 1650 freestyle record was set by Kaitlyn Orstein ’08 in 2007 (18:11.40).
Freshman Charlotte Lima (Brooklyn, N.Y./Choate Rosemary Hall) recorded another strong showing in the 200 backstroke (2:09.22) after claiming second place. Senior C.J. Corcoran (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) also closed out her career with a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle (53.38).
Freshman Jessica Sweitzer (Laurel, Md./Seton Keough) was fourth behind Corcoran with a time of 53.39.
Lima, Corcoran, Sweitzer and senior Ellie Tecza (Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley) provided another school record, breaking the 400 freestyle relay mark which had stood since 2005. The quartet posted a time of 3:34.46 and placed second in the final race of the night. That time beat the previous school record by nine-tenths of a second.
The W&J men were paced by senior Michael Boutwell’s (Winchester, Va./John Handley) 1650 freestyle runner-up finish (16:56.90). Freshman Jake Meyers (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock North) was fourth in the same event with a time of 17:04.19.
Freshman Michael Magdic (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny) was fifth in the 200 backstroke (1:57.94), while senior Jonathan Weeks (Donora, Pa./Ringgold) was sixth in the 100 freestyle (48.14).
