YORK, PA - The York College men's swim team (1-1,1-1 CAC)
began the 2009 season with a tri-meet split against a pair of
Capital Athletic Conference foes in visiting Hood College (0-3, 0-2
CAC) and the University of Mary Washington (4-1, 3-0 CAC) Friday
evening in York. The Spartans defeated Hood by a margin of 222-27,
but fell to the Eagles by a tally of 190.50- 71.50.
The Green and White opened the 2009 campaign with the 200 yard
medley relay. The Spartans relay featuring the junior combination
of Ben Hilt (Mt. Joy, Pa./ Hempfield), and
Steve Tobin (Estell Manor, N.J./ Holy Spirit) kept
the race close with UMW through the breaststroke leg of the
relay. That is when senior Clark Arnold (York, Pa./
Northeastern) and sophomore Jack Gottschalk
(Forest Hill, Md./ Fallston) made the race interesting
pulling within inches of the opposing team before finishing a very
close second with a time of 1:40.12.
After the opening event, the Spartans battled on when junior
Steve Yeager (Sinking Spring, Pa./ Wilson) held
pace with the Eagles trio of Jack McHugh, Chris Shifflett, and
Andrew Garofolo through the first half of the 1000 yard freestyle.
Yeager went on to a fourth place finish and a time of 5:10.07.
Coming off a very successful freshman campaign, Gottschalk
entered the pool just where he left off. The Spartan
sophomore led the 200 freestyle through 70 yards with a half body
length lead over his nearest competitor. UMW's Brad Dunn took
over however, with a powerful flip turn at the 100 yard mark,
pulling away for the victory. Gottschalk settled for a third place
finished with a time off 1:51.75.
The Eagles continued to give the Spartans all they could handle
with a sweep of the 100 yard backstroke, and a one-two finish in
the 100 yard breaststroke. Preventing the breaststroke sweep,
Spartan freshman Steve Mercer (Rockville, Md./ The Heights
School) swam a 1:03.46 to capture a third place finish.
Hilt resurfaced in the 50 yard sprint freestyle event to bring
home a tie for second with a strong back end of the 50. The Spartan
junior hit the wall with a time of 22.73.
Senior Michael Murphy (Farmingdale, N.J./ Colts
Neck) swam in his first 100 yard freestyle since bringing
home the CAC title in the event at last years conference
championships. After the first 50 yards of the race Murphy found
himself battling out a close second and finished the event in the
same position with a time of 49.77, trailing only UMW's
Justin Anderson (49.17).
The 200 yard breaststroke provided the Green and White with
their lone event win of the tri-meet. Yeager touched the wall at
2:18.74 to not only give York the victory but also establish a new
pool record in the event. Sophomore Jamie Hicks
(Kingsville, Md./ Fallston) touched the wall with a time
of 2:22.76 to take third in the event. Arnold joined back into the
scoring action with a third place finish in the 100 yard butterfly
in a time of 55.56.
While visiting the York College Natatorium the Eagles managed to
also secure two pool records. The first was a time of 4:53.07
recorded by UMW's Nick Eckhoff in the 500 freestyle, the
second record was set by UMW's Stephen Clendenin with a tie
of 2:01.77 in the 200 yard individual medley. The Eagles finished
the night by besting the Spartans in the 400 yard freestyle relay
with a time of 3:18.16.
The Spartans return to action tomorrow against CAC opponent
Marymount as the Green and White will look to build on last
season's 159-74 victory. York visits the Saints in Arlington,
Va. on Saturday, November 7, with meet action kicking off at
2:00 p.m.
TEAM
SCORES
INDIVIDUAL
RESULTS
Jamie Hicks photo courtesy of Zach Clabaugh (www.sharpedgephoto.smugmug.com)
Game story written by Garrett Wampler - York College
sports information student intern
