After more than two months of heavy preparation, the Shippensburg University men's swimming team heads to York this week for the 2021 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships. The championships will be contested on Wednesday and Thursday, and the venue is once again the Graham Aquatic Center (York YMCA).
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in numerous adjustments to the 2021 championships, including no spectators, and a four-day competition of prelims and finals condensed into a two-day competition of timed finals. The times achieved across the conference over the last four months helped establish the seeds for this week's championships, but beginning Wednesday, the conference champion could come from the first heat, the last heat, or any heat in between.
 
The most notable aspect of this year's championships is that there will be a new champion for the first time in more than two decades. West Chester, winners of the last 22 straight conference championships, opted out of 2021 winter sports competition. The men's teams competing alongside Shippensburg at this year's championships are Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Gannon and IUP.
 
Shippensburg enters the PSAC Championships motivated for success after a highly productive virtual meet schedule. The virtual meets helped instill a level of confidence and focus among the Raiders.
 
"I think it gave them a sense of relief that, despite getting in later, we were still going to swim fast," head coach Tim Verge said. "I think sometimes in swimming we are guilty of 'over-training,' and this environment forced us to do some different things. It was exciting. I think the strong virtual meets helped 'sell' the idea that volume isn't the key."
 
The key to the final leadup has been staying healthy and maintaining the tempo established by the team during training. The last two weeks of practice have been integral to the preparation for this year's championships.
 
"We've continued to work hard," Verge said. "We talked about not backing off quite as much as what we were doing, and it seemed to really produce some strong swimming. Our intensity kept up every day, but we did back off our total volume as we moved forward. They have done some very good things in practice."
 
Shippensburg has progressively climbed the league standings the last few years, finishing fifth in 2019 and fourth in 2020. This year's team is a highly motivated and competitive group seeking to continue that ascension.
 
"We have a group that really enjoys having fun and challenging each other to swim fast," Verge said. "Maybe more importantly, they enjoy watching each other swim fast."
 
This year's team once again boasts significant high-end talent. Among the Raiders who enter the meet with a Top 5 seed in an event are senior Eric Zimmerman, juniors Andrew Hale, Matt Bochanski and Vin Salvatore, redshirt-freshman JC Greenwood, and freshman Michael Salvatori.
 
"We are only two people off the maximum that you're allowed to bring, but I think the overwhelming majority of our team has a chance to score at the meet," Verge said. "The question is, can we score high enough in the events in which we're strong, because there are some events where we just don't have the depth. We have to make the most of the opportunities that we have."
 
Wednesday's sessions begin at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., while Thursday's sessions begin at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Live video coverage of the meet will be available on the PSAC Network.
 
SU's entries at the 2021 PSAC Championships:
Matthew Beard
Matt Bochanski
Alec Burger
David Bussard
Anthony Caravaggio
JC Greenwood
Andrew Hale
Michael Hannig
Hunter Keck
Vin Salvatore
Michael Salvatori
Christian Sawyer
Trevor Woolwine
Tylor Yakaitis
Eric Zimmerman
Elijah Zinn