MECHANICSBURG, Pa. - The Shippensburg University men's swim team battled over the course of four consecutive days at the 2009 PSAC Swimming Championships from Cumberland Valley High School and was rewarded with something that the program had not achieved in 13 years - a runner-up trophy for a second-place finish after an outstanding final day of competition.

"It's exciting, and these kids deserve it," said head coach Tim Verge, who helped guide the squad to its best conference finish during his 11-year tenure. "We didn't have every swim go the way we wanted to, but they kept fighting. This is something they wanted to do, and they did it. I couldn't be more proud of them. It was a lot of fun."

Shippensburg, despite not winning any event, had a total of 23 championship (top-eight) performances over the course of the four-day meet to earn a total of 544.5 points, 40 more than Clarion. The effort was an improvement of 92.5 points from last year and ended a streak of two consecutive third-place finishes.

"This is the first time we've been in second place in 13 years, and that's huge for us and just so big for our program," said Verge, whose squad trailed only conference juggernaut West Chester for supremacy this season. "We have a deep team and a group of classy individuals who thrive by pushing each other to work hard."

The Raiders surpassed Clarion on the final day of competition with a bevy of impressive swims across the board - in particular with five scoring performances in the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Evan Wentzel had a stellar effort with a fifth-place time of 1:55.36, while freshman Richard Deley took seventh place in 1:58.30.

Senior Brian Taylor won the consolation finals of the event, nearly matching Wentzel's effort with a time of 1:55.81. Sophomore Alan Snyder and senior Kevin Riley also scored for the Raiders with 11th and 16th-place finishes, as the Raiders totaled 42 points in that event alone.

Sophomore Shane Wolter capped off an unbelievable tournament with a second-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, completing his swim in 15:58.52 and missing an automatic-qualifying time by just 0.43 seconds. For the week, Wolter finished second in the 400-yard IM and fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle while helping the 800-yard freestyle relay to a third-place finish.

Three additional outstanding individual performances on Sunday came from sophomore Josh Nyce in the 200-yard backstroke, senior John Miller in the 200-yard breaststroke and senior Gabe Oropollo in the 100-yard freestyle.

Nyce finished fourth with a time of 1:55.53 while Miller earned fifth place with a time of 2:10.72. Oropollo took sixth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.26 seconds. Freshmen Joe Keefe and Matt Smith both scored in the 200-yard backstroke along with Nyce, while sophomore Tim Smullen and junior Nate Ryan complemented Oropollo with consolation scoring in the 100-yard freestyle.

"They wanted to keep digging it out," Verge said of his team that scored 198.5 points on the final day to overcome a 28-point deficit after Day 3. "They kept trying to race and kept pushing each other, and that's very exciting to watch. It's so thrilling."

The second-place finish was capped off by the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Oropollo, Smullen, Miller and Ryan who earned fifth place with a time of 3:09.91. A raucous crowd of supporters cheered on the Raiders from both the bleacher section and the pool deck while watching Shippensburg complete its sensational weekend.

"We have a great group of seniors that have worked so hard to get here," Verge said. "It's a great group of guys. Like every group of kids in college, we've had our ups and downs, butted heads a few times, but they've always done what we've asked of them and they've continued to work hard."

The event completes the stellar careers of that Raider senior class - a group that includes Miller, Oropollo, Riley and Taylor along with Alex Fox, Will Kane, Ryan Rocchi and Jason Roth.

"One of the things I'm most proud of is the fact that this past fall our seniors had a grade-point average as a group over 3.0," Verge said. "That's a phenomenal accomplishment and it's something we try to challenge the kids to do all the time. Not everything goes your way all the time, and you learn a lot about people after seeing how they respond to things like that. They were phenomenal, and we're going to miss them greatly."

The 2009 NCAA Swimming Championships will be held from March 11-14 at the Division II Winter Championships Festival in Houston, Texas. The festivities are hosted by the University of Houston.