The Shippensburg University men's swimming team finished in sixth place at the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, posting four individual Top-8 finishes Saturday to conclude an excellent week of competition from the Graham Aquatic Center inside the York County (Pa.) YMCA.
 
"It's very encouraging the direction we are going," head coach Tim Verge said of a 12-person contingent this week of which nine swimmers were freshmen or sophomores. "The young swimmers scored a lot of points for us, and our team improved our overall point total from last year despite having a new core group. They were excited, they raced, and did a tremendous job."
 
One of the final day's signature races is the arduous 1,650-yard freestyle, and Shippensburg produced three scorers among the Top 12 finishers. Sophomore Jeff Beyer placed third – his third All-PSAC performance of the meet – while freshman Eric Zimmerman in 16:26 and senior Quinton Beck finished 12th in 17:18.
 
"Jeff is such a tough racer," Verge said. "To come in as a sophomore and produce that well in three different events, and then to PR in a fourth, is a tremendous next step for him to take. He is growing into racing at this level and certainly the goal is to keep getting faster and faster. He doesn't have any fear about working hard, so I know he's going to be ready to get after it, and keep seeing those types of results."
 
Sophomore Callum Hamel made an 'A' final for the second straight day, swimming 2:08.07 in prelims of the 200-yard breaststroke to rank sixth all-time in SU history for the event. It is a tremendous PR of more than two seconds. Hamel finished eighth in the finals (2:09.17).
 
"That was huge," Verge said of Hamel. "Across the board, he really swam a great meet. He did a great job coming back after a somewhat tough first day. He could have easily gone through the meet being frustrated, but came back with a big PR on Thursday in the 400 IM and then went nuts the last two days with two phenomenal breaststroke races."
 
For the second straight year, Beck endured an exhausting final day in which he swam more than 2,000 yards in the pool. He scored in both of Saturday races – in addition to the aforementioned performance in the mile, he finished 15th in the 200-yard breaststroke on a time of 2:12.48 after swimming 2:12.19 in prelims. Over his last two seasons, Beck produced five PSAC individual scoring performances.
 
Freshman Hunter Keck had a riveting final day of the meet, highlighted by a tremendous PR in a swim-off of the 100-yard freestyle that got him into the consolation final of the event. Keck tied Clarion's Robert Hacku with a prelims time of 47.44 seconds, and then went out and raced his way to a personal best of 46.94 seconds. Keck finished 14th in the evening with a time of 47.15 seconds.
 
"What a huge PR in the swim-off for Hunter," Verge said. "That performance was truly a phenomenal swim. His swam well at night too – his second-best time ever – but that swim-off was just tremendous."
 
Sophomore Nick Bloom capped off a great meet by placing sixth in the 200-yard backstroke, posting a finals time of 1:54.43 for a lifetime best that ranks 10th all-time at Shippensburg.
 
"Nick is a great racer," Verge said. "He really likes to get up and compete, and he has such great stroke technique and form. He is fun swimmer to watch swim fast. He really improved his breaststroke this year, which improved his IMs. He is a quiet competitor, but he will get in and battle with anybody. To have PRs across the board at this meet is a great result and he is a part of that strong nucleus."
 
Beyer, Keck, sophomore Adam Fox and freshman Joe Deemer completed the meet by swimming the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:11.69. Also on Saturday, sophomore Wendell Banks improved a PR in the 100-yard freestyle to 51.37 seconds.
 
Overall, Shippensburg improved its overall team score by 59 points at this year's meet, producing 22 individual scoring performances compared to 15 last season.
 
"It really is encouraging, but we want to keep moving forward," Verge said. "We have a good base, but need to keep adding to it."
 
1650 Free
3. Jeff Beyer 16:14.25
8. Eric Zimmerman 16:26.30
12. Quinton Beck 17:18.15
 
100 Free
14. Hunter Keck 47.15 (47.44p) (46.94 s-o)
Adam Fox 48.02
Shane Kaliszewski 49.29
Evan Smith 50.55
Emmett Langan 50.64
Wendell Banks 51.37
 
200 Back
6. Nick Bloom 1:54.43 (1:54.88p)
Evan Smith 2:13.07
 
200 Breast
8. Callum Hamel 2:09.17 (2:08.07p)
15. Quinton Beck 2:12.48 (2:12.19p)
 
400 Free Relay
7. Jeff Beyer, Hunter Keck, Adam Fox, Joe Deemer 3:11.69