By David Goldman, Staff Writer
Gettysburg swimming held their home, two-day invitational the weekend of Dec. 4 and did not fail to impress. Both men and women’s teams secured second place finishes, and Bullets fans got to see some record-breaking performances.
The women only had two victorious events on Saturday, but they both came in the final events of the morning and evening sessions. In the morning, Ava Collin ’25, Megan Wojnar ’22, Katherine Sears ’22, and Mia Yancey ’25 posted a time of 7:49.37 in the 800 free relay, which marked the third best finish in this event at Gettysburg. History did not stop there though, as the evening session relay team of Cate Kosko ’22, Yancey, Wojnar, and Collin dominated the 400 free with a time of 3:30.84 to beat the previous school record by over one second.
Collin and Yancey did not only dominate on the relay front but showed out in their individual 100 and 200 free races. In the 100, Collin finished with a time of 52.82 and Yancey followed .06 seconds behind, which put the two rookies in fourth and fifth, respectively, in team history. Yancey made sure to beat out her fellow Bullet in the 200 though, as she finished in second with the sixth-best time in program history, while Collin took home fourth with the tenth best mark by a Gettysburg swimmer.
Sears competed in her last collegiate swimming event before she graduates at the end of this semester, but she made sure to go out with a bang, securing a second-place finish in the 1,650 free. The senior will end her Gettysburg career as the seventh fastest swimmer in the 200 and 500 free, the fourth fastest in the 1,000 free, and the fifth fastest in the 1,650 free.
The Bullets also had contributions from Annabel Gorman ’23 and Olivia Pyott ’25, who both earned top-3 finishes on the day.
Led by Nick Cox ’23 and Duncan Proxmire ’22, the men also had a great day in the pool. Cox posted a couple of first place finishes for Gettysburg in the 100 and 200 back, and he missed the school mark in the former by a hair. He did, however, set a new personal record for the 100 back at 50.19. In the 1,650 free, Proxmire finished with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 16:03.40, handily achieving the victory.
The underclassmen also helped out the cause, as Hunter Sundlun ’24 grabbed a second place finish in the 100 free, and Luca Tolino ’25 worked his way into third during the 400 IM. Luke McKenna ’24 would finish a place in front of Tolino with a 4:09.73, now the fourth-fastest time in school history.
In the breaststroke, Declan Sheeran ’24 compiled a pair of third place finishes, with his 100-time moving him up to a tie for fifth in program history, and his 200-time lifting him to the number three position.
The final event of the invitational proved to be the most dramatic, though. Cox, Proxmire, Sundlun, and Cort Hoblemann ’25 managed to pull off a victory in the 400 free relay. Hoblemann made sure the Bullets stayed in front, and Proxmire sealed the deal at anchor, the team posting a 3:06.25 inside a deafening Bullets Pool.
The Bullets can chalk this weekend up as a success and enjoy some time off. Gettysburg will next travel down south to Florida to face off against the University of Scranton on Jan. 8 as part of its winter training trip.
