The Shippensburg University women's swimming team won seven events and tied for a relay victory in its return to action Thursday night as the Raiders triumphed in a dual meet against fellow Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent Gannon, 111.5 – 100.5, from the Carneval Athletic Pavilion Pool in Erie.

"This was a really terrific road win," head coach Tim Verge said. "Gannon is a super team. I thought we got off the bus and fought hard. I asked them to swim tough, swim through some stuff and just focus on racing. They really did a great job of that."
 
The tone was set early with a rare tie in the 200-yard medley relay, as the Raider quartet of junior Carly Alvarado, sophomore Gabriella Johnson, senior Rhyan Rodriguez and senior Jeanette Welch matched Gannon with a time of 1:52.32.
 
Freshman Madeleine Verby was integral to the victory with a pair of wins in distance freestyle events, claiming first place in the 500 with a time of 5:30.95 and the 1,000 with a time of 11:24.26.
 
Junior Stephanie O'Toole won all three of her individual events, earning gold in the 50-yard freestyle (24.68 seconds), 100-yard butterfly (58.00 seconds) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.41). O'Toole achieved three of SU's 11 conference cuts on the night. The performance in the 100 butterfly set a Gannon pool record.
 
Alvarado was excellent in the 100-yard backstroke, winning with a sub 60-second time of 59.33 seconds. She also paced the Raiders in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second in 2:01.98. Freshman Mari Reott was close behind Alvarado in the 100 backstroke, finishing second with a conference cut of 1:01.72.
 
Sophomore Grace Tothero exceled in the 400-yard IM, claiming victory with a time of 4:50.72. Tothero also had one of SU's three PSAC cuts in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.15) along with O'Toole and Johnson (1:10.48).
 
Senior Erin Fife notched a pair of conference cuts, swimming third in the 50-yard freestyle on a time of 25.45 seconds and third in the 100-yard freestyle on a time of 55.69 seconds. Fife, Welch, Verby and Reott concluded the meet by swimming the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:43.79.

"There are still a few turn things we can clean up, and we didn't finish a few races as I'd like, but it's one of the best "off the bus" meets we've had in a while," Verge said. "Steph's pool record was a really strong swim but we had a bunch of swims I was very happy with — too many to narrow all of those down. I hope we come out tomorrow this ready because Edinboro will be very tough."
 
Shippensburg competes at 11 a.m. Friday at Edinboro, completing its weekend in Northwest Pennsylvania.
 
200 Medley Relay
T1. Carly Alvarado, Gabriella Johnson, Rhyan Rodriguez, Jeanette Welch 1:52.32
3. Mari Reott, Gracee Tothero, Nollaig Noll, Neena Gollub 1:57.50
'C' 2:05.65
 
1000 Free
1. Madeleine Verby 11:24.26
Kara Killion 12:41.44
 
200 Free
2. Carly Alvarado 2:01.98 (PSAC)
Neena Gollub 2:11.95
 
50 Free
1. Stephanie O'Toole 24.68 (PSAC)
3. Erin Fife 25.45 (PSAC)
Gabriella Johnson 26.62
Jordan Cassatt 30.04
Caitlyn Sellers 30.84
 
400 IM
1. Gracee Tothero 4:50.72 (PSAC)
Erika Rundquist 5:24.85
 
100 Fly
1. Stephanie O'Toole 58.00 (PSAC)
Rhyan Rodriguez 1:02.94
Nollaig Noll 1:05.33
 
100 Free
2. Jeanette Welch 55.48 (PSAC)
3. Erin Fife 55.69 (PSAC)
Neena Gollub 59.05
Nicole Smith 1:03.16
Kara Killion 1:07.49
 
100 Back
1. Carly Alvarado 59.33 (PSAC)
2. Mari Reott 1:01.72 (PSAC)
Erika Rundquist 1:07.40
 
500 Free
1. Madeleine Verby 5:30.95
Kara Killion 6:14.65
Caitlyn Sellers 6:31.47
 
100 Breast
1. Stephanie O'Toole 1:06.41 (PSAC)
3. Gabriella Johnson 1:10.48 (PSAC)
Gracee Tothero 1:11.15 (PSAC)
 
400 Free Relay
2. Erin Fife, Jeanette Welch, Madeleine Verby, Mari Reott 3:43.79
Nollaig Noll, Sarah Strause, Kara Killion, Nicole Smith 4:13.18