SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's swimming team won seven events Saturday to celebrate its two seniors in style, defeating Clarion on Senior Day by a 118-84 score in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) dual meet held inside Donald N. Miller Pool.
 
The Raiders won seven of the 11 events in Saturday's meet but also benefitted from its depth, as the team had 12 Top-2 finishes on the day, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard individual medley.
 
"It was a really exciting weekend, and we've had a really good stretch here in the last couple weeks of solid racing and competition against real solid programs," head coach Tim Verge '89 said. "It's been a long time since we've beaten Clarion, a benchmark program in the conference. It's a great way to send out our seniors at home."
 
Seniors Carolyn Meier and Rikki Sargent were both event winners as they competed in the home pool for the final time in a collegiate meet. Meier was a double winner, taking the 100 freestyle in 54.37 seconds and the 200 freestyle in 1:57.94. Sargent won the 200 breaststroke in 2:31.87, took second in the 200 IM (2:17.79) and third in the 100 freestyle (56.41).
 
The day began with freshman Carly Alvarado, sophomore Nicole Martorella, sophomore Erin Fife and Meier winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:53.06. Alvarado later won the 200 backstroke in an impressive 2:10.80, while Fife took gold in the 200 butterfly by swimming 2:14.65.
 
For the second straight night, freshman Sidney Owens won the 200-yard IM – her time Saturday was 2:16.11. Freshman Lauren Ellis, meanwhile, placed second in both the 500 freestyle (5:26.51) and the 1000 freestyle (11:11.16).
 
"While we certainly have things to work on, it was a fun meet to be a part of and several good things happened," Verge said. "I hope we can ride the momentum into George Mason."
 
Shippensburg now has a week of training and tapering to get ready for its most important stretch of the season's first half. SU will be at George Mason from November 19-21 for the annual Patriot Invitational, as the Raiders will be let loose in pursuit of NCAA provisional qualifiers and its fastest times of the young season.
 
"We've got a great group of individuals who are working really hard this year, doing different things in our training and adapting well to it," Verge said. "I'm excited and proud to see how they handle it. Our leadership and team cohesion is the best it's been in years, and we're really enjoying competing and racing and going through this together."
 
200 Medley Relay
1. Carly Alvarado, Nicole Martorella, Erin Fife, Carolyn Meier 1:53.06
Sami Sabol, Sarah Strause, Nollaig Noll, Abbey O'Neal 1:59.06
McKenzie Johnson, Meaghan McGrath, Kadie Weaver, Kara Killion 2:14.11
                                                   
1000 Free
2. Lauren Ellis 11:11.16
3. Kaytee Garcia 11:13.67
Tori Bingham 11:24.94
 
200 Free
1. Carolyn Meier 1:57.94
3. MacKenna Angert 2:01.46
Erin Fife 2:03.81
 
50 Free
3. Nollaig Noll 26.09
Abbey O'Neal 26.10
Jeanette Welch 26.65
 
200 IM
1. Sidney Owens 2:16.11
2. Rikki Sargent 2:17.79
3. Nicole Martorella 2:25.49
 
200 Fly
1. Erin Fife 2:14.65
3. Sidney Owens 2:22.69
Nollaig Noll 2:27.31
 
100 Free
1. Carolyn Meier 54.37
3. Rikki Sargent 56.41
Kadie Weaver 1:00.51
 
200 Back
1. Carly Alvarado 2:10.80
3. MacKenna Angert 2:14.74
Tori Bingham 2:16.01
 
500 Free
2. Lauren Ellis 5:26.51
Jeanette Welch 5:27.69
Kaytee Garcia 5:35.99
 
200 Breast
1. Rikki Sargent 2:31.87
2. Nicole Martorella 2:32.99
Sarah Strause 2:45.12
 
200 Free Relay
2. MacKenna Angert, Abbey O'Neal, Jeanette Welch, Sidney Owens 1:43.63
3. Carly Alvarado, Kaytee Garcia, Lauren Ellis, Tori Bingham 1:45.98
Sami Sabol, Marilyn Miller, McKenzie Johnson, Alex Kryzan 1:56.55