Women’s swimming finishes strong in final duel meet
Senior Sydney Boswell
Gettysburg College Office of Athletic Communications
By Claire Healey, Sports Editor
The Gettysburg College women’s swim team won their final dual meet of the 2016-2017 season. The Bullets were victorious over conference rival Franklin and Marshall College. Gettysburg finished 8-2 in dual meets, putting them second in the conference standings.
Gettysburg came away with a convincing victory in the battle of conference opponents. After opening the meet with five straight victories, Gettysburg never allowed Franklin and Marshall the opportunity to catch up.
Gettysburg won eleven of fourteen events on their way to a victory. Senior Sydney Boswell led the way for Gettysburg with victories in the 100-backstroke and 100-butterfly.
“I’m really pleased with how I swam today. It’s always important to have a good last dual meet right before conferences. Also this was my last college dual meet, so I’m happy to finish off my career with two wins. Also, it’s nice to come away with a win against a conference rival,” said Boswell.
First-year Kate Crilly also had an outstanding meet for the Bullets with two individual victories as well as being part of two winning relays. Crilly claimed the 50- and 100-freestyle events and helped the 200-medley relay and 200-freetyle relays.
Sophomore Paige Griesse also came away with two individual victories for Gettysburg in the 200 and 500-freestyle events. Griesse was also part of the 200-freestyle relay.
Other Bullets with individual victories included sophomore Sadie Stiles in the 100-breastroke, senior captain Caroline Moyer in the 200-breastroke, and first-year Karley Devine in the 1,000-freestyle. Stiles and Devine also had runner-up finishes in the 200-breastroke and 500-freestyle respectively.
Junior Savannah Llewellyn had a runner-up finish in the 200-butterfly. Sophomore Johnna Hock placed second in the 100-freestyle and first-year Becca Maroney also came second in the 200-backstroke.
In the relays, a 200-medley team of Maroney, Moyer, junior Nicole Farina and Crilly set the early pace for Gettysburg with a full second win over Franklin and Marshall’s ‘A’ relay. In the 200-freestyle relay, a team of Crilly, sophomore Lindsay Hayden, Griesse, and senior Carlin Baker closed out the meet with another victory, however they relay was swam exhibition.
“I think our team swam really well today. We never gave up or lost momentum even when the relay went exhibition. I’m hoping we can take this momentum into conferences to hopefully improve on our second place finish last year. Our freshmen are swimming really well right now and everyone just seems to be stepping up,” said Moyer.
Gettysburg placed second last year behind Ursinus College at the Centennial Conference Championships. The Bullets 8-2 record put them just behind Ursinus in the conference standings, so they will be looking to upset first-ranked Ursinus at the upcoming conference championships.
Some members of the Gettysburg squad will be competing at the McGinness Invitational and Franklin and Marshall this upcoming Saturday, February 11. The rest of the team will be training for the Centennial Conference Championships, which are being held back at Franklin and Marshall’s Kunkel Aquatic Center, February 17th – 19th.
