(The PSAC Championships home page, which includes the conference's championships spectator policy, live video and live results links, and a full schedule, is available by clicking the link to the right. Attendance is limited to two visitors per swimmer.) 

The Shippensburg University women's swimming team will be in York beginning Wednesday for four days of competition at the 2022 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, contested once again at the Graham Aquatic Center.
 
This season, the conference championships return to the customary format of morning prelims and evening finals. In 2021, due to the pandemic, the women's championships were conducted as four timed finals sessions spanning two days.
 
"It's nice to have some normalcy back in our season," head coach Tim Verge said. "I thought our men and women did a wonderful job of handling everything last year and I was really happy with how we swam."
 
The Raiders, third-place finishers in 2021, have had a few opportunities to prepare for the return of a meet structured like the conference championships – notably back in November at Franklin & Marshall. At a meet like the PSAC Championships, the importance of the morning prelims is pivotal as always.
 
"This is very much a 'you have to be ready to perform in the morning' type of meet." Verge said. "I think everybody gets that message from their coaches, but you really just have to be able to step up. Especially as you get into Day 3 and 4 in the morning, when your body is a little uncomfortable from racing for a couple of days, it just comes down to a lot of heart then and execution."
 
Shippensburg enters the conference championships with 20 eligible swimmers set to vie for a scoring performance. The Top 24 individual performances from the morning prelims will qualify for evening finals sessions.
 
"With scoring as many as we do on the women's side and some of the depth that we have, it's really exciting that we have an opportunity for, I would say, almost anyone going to be able to score somewhere," Verge said. "We just have to be ready to put it together and do that."
 
There is no lack of competition for the league's blue trophy this season. IUP, the defending champion, packs a legion of strong talent highlighted by All-American Paige Mikesell. West Chester returns with its customary depth after a one-year absence, seeking to re-establish itself atop the conference. Add in perennially-strong Bloomsburg among a whole host of other schools, and the points will most certainly be earned this week.
 
Be sure to count the Raiders among those teams in the mix for a productive and successful championship meet.
 
"The excitement of the conference meet and having everybody back, with all of the teams, and that kind of environment, and the men and women together, I think energy will help push everybody," Verge said. "Those last two days there will be a lot of excitement, so I think we will be able to get through it from the mental side. I think physically is where we need to be really good and doing the things that we need to do day-to-day that are going to help us swim better the next day, from warming up and warming down, staying hydrated, and taking care of those things. We've done a good job of that in the past, knock on wood, and we've had some success at the meet."
 
Shippensburg's competitors at the 2022 PSAC Championships:
Sophomore Marissa Bittner (Middletown, Del./Appoquinimink)
Senior Madison Breiner (Glen Mills, Pa./Bayard Rustin)
Junior Marina Cote (Papillion, Neb./Daniel J. Gross)
Freshman Lauren Croll (Honolulu, Hi./President Theodore Roosevelt)
Freshman Gwen Elsey (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory)
Freshman Kristin Gebhard (Reading, Pa./Twin Valley)
Sophomore Michaela Hersh (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights)
Sophomore Rachel Johnston (Lexington Park, Md./Leonardtown)
Senior Bri Joll (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills)
Freshman Allie Keeling (Redlands, Cal./Redlands)
Junior Kallie Lyle (Coplay, Pa./Whitehall)
Senior Shannan Maher (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley)
Senior Tomomi Nakano (Hershey, Pa./Hershey)
Freshman Emily Newton (Summit Hill, Pa./Panther Valley)
Sophomore Sammy Taylor (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty)
Senior Eva Tice (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin)
Sophomore Alyssa Tomb (Harrison City, Pa./Penn-Trafford)
Sophomore Lexington Wagner (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg)
Freshman Gracie Wetzel (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe)
Senior Natalie Wiley (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem)