Men’s Swimming Finishes First at Invitational
Senior Ty Dougherty won three individual events and one relay at the Gettysburg Invitational (Photo courtesy of David Sinclair)
By Gabi Eglinton, Staff Writer
Last weekend, the Gettysburg College swim team hosted the Gettysburg Invitational at Bullets Pool. The two-day meet ultimately resulted in a victory for the Gettysburg men, placing first out of five teams from the Centennial Conference.
On Friday, the first day of competition, the men’s team accumulated 404.5 points. This gave them a substantial lead over Mary Washington (241.5), Franklin & Marshall (238), Susquehanna (204), and Dickinson (178).
The men kicked off the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-medley relay. The power team consisted of sophomore Jeff Ragatz, first year Oliver Yancey, junior Francisco Nieves, and senior Ty Dougherty. Gettysburg’s final time was 1:33.70, edging out Franklin & Marshall by a small margin.
Ragatz also contributed his speed to the Bullets, notably during the first individual event of the day, the 200-backstroke. He won the event with a time of 1:52:41, which was 5.2 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
The Bullets would then go on to finish 1-2 in the 100-freestyle with Dougherty leading the way and sophomore Ogden Leyens touching second. Dougherty was just five-hundreths of a second short of an NCAA ‘B-cut.’
In addition to five victories on Friday night, the men’s team won an additional five events by the meet’s conclusion on Saturday. Gettysburg finished with a total team score of 1,070 points to bring about a Bullets victory over their four competitors.
The Bullets beat last year’s champion, Mary Washington by 342.5 points. In third place was Franklin & Marshall with 653.5 points, Susquehanna in fourth with 434 points and Dickinson came in fifth with 419 points.
The Bullets won four of six events in the morning session, helping them build up their substantial lead going into the final session. Leyens finished with a victory in the 200-freestyle. He led first year Daniel Petrillo, who finished second in the event with a time of 1:44:77.
Doughtery and Ragatz also contributed two Saturday morning victories in the 100-breaststroke and 100-backstroke respectively.
The morning was rounded out by a stellar performance in the 800-freestyle relay. The Bullets went 1-2 with the ‘A’ relay beating out the strong ‘B’ relay by only a few tenths of a second. First year Jack Edelson, junior Parker Sorenson, junior Francisco Nieves and Leyes held off the team of first year Brian Berry, Petrillo, first year Duncan Proxmire and sophomore Josh Parker.
Also contributing points during the Saturday morning session was Edelson with a second place finish in the 100-butterfly, Yancey finished third in the 400-IM, sophomore Jack Freeman was fourth in the 100-butterfly and junior Jakob Hegna finished fifth in the 100-backstroke.
During the Saturday evening session, Dougherty had the only individual victory for the Bullets with a win in the 50-freestyle. Leyens and Edelson each had a runners-up finish in the 500-freestyle and 200-IM respectively.
The Bullets also built up points with several third place finishes. Parker in the 500-freestyle, Freeman in the 200-IM and Sorenson in the 50-freestyle. Gettysburg also finished second in both relays, including the 200-freestyle relay and the 400-medley relay.
Dougherty has played a crucial role in the team’s success over the past four years. He currently holds the school record for the 100-breastroke and during his sophomore year, Dougherty became the first Bullet in men’s swimming history to reach the finals in three individual events at NCAA Division III Championships.
It was also announced on Monday that Dougherty has been named the Centennial Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Week for the second time this season. This marks the fifth time he has earned this title in his career.
The Bullets do not compete again until the second semester. On Jan. 27, they are scheduled to visit Mary Washington in a non-conference dual meet starting at 1 p.m.
