Bullets Men’s Swimming. (Photo Courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Zion Williams, Staff Writer
Women’s
The women’s swim team finished in second place out of eight teams with 868.5 points in the Centennial Conference Swimming Championships, a four-day event that took place from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25.
Thursday evening, Mia Morreale ’26, Sarah McAndrew ’24, Lindsay Blake ’25, and Olivia Evans ’26 kicked the Bullets off with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay B-final with a time of 1:46.17. Natalie Wisniewski ’24, Maya Knoller ’26, Bramley Hawkins ’26, and Delaney Reck ’27 finished in second place in the A-final relay with a time of 1:44.35.
Mia Yancey ’25 set a new school, pool, and championship record in the 800-yard freestyle relay, beating her school and pool record that she set last year with a new time of 1:50.84. Her team finished third with a time of 7:37.72, and the Bullets finished first in the B-final and ninth overall, swimming a 7:44.66
Friday night, Ava Berry ’27 claimed bronze for the Bullets with a time of 5:04.18 in the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle, and Maggie Sedlak ’26 placed eighth. In the 50-yard freestyle, Valerie Lawton ’26 swam a 23.69, which placed her in third, and her teammates Knoller and Reck placed fourth and fifth respectively.
Wisniewski, Hawkins, and Yancey formed the Bullets’ 400-yard medley relay team and placed second with a time of 3:50.19. In the B-final, Morreale, Sedlak, Lawton, and Olivia Pyott ’25 placed ninth overall, but first in their final.
Saturday evening, the Bullets continued their good form. In the 100-yard backstroke A-final, the Bullets registered a medal sweep. Morreale won the gold with a time of 56.73, Reck followed with a silver placing and a time of 57.31, and Wisniewski cleaned it up, registering a time of 57.49 and the bronze placing.
Gettysburg saw gold again when Yancey swam a 1:50.83 in the A-final of the 200-yard freestyle. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Reck, Knoller, Yancey, and Lawton finished second and set another program record with a time of 1:33.98.
Sunday evening, in the 1650-yard freestyle, Berry won another bronze for the Bullets with a time of 17:37.76. Later on, Yancey won her second gold medal in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.91. The Bullets placed second in the final event of the meet in the 400-yard freestyle relay, clocking in at 3:26:27.
Men’s
The men’s team also finished the Centennial Conference Championships in second place out of seven total teams with 710 points.
Thursday evening, in the A-final of the medley relays, Cort Hobelmann ’25, Declan Sheeran ’24, Max McAlister ’26, and Harry Nelson ’25 placed third with a time of 1:31.10. In the B-final of the 800-yard freestyle, Luke McKenna ’24, Edward Kim ’27, and Conor Vienneau ’24 placed second with a time of 6:50.92.
Friday night, John Verosko ’26 got the Bullets their first medal, as he placed silver in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.83.
Nelson placed fourth and little brother Sam Nelson ’27 finished in sixth place. In the 200-yard IM, Mason Dillon ’25 swam a 1:51:32, registering a fourth-place finish, with his teammates finishing in seventh and eighth place.
Gettysburg’s 400-yard medley A-relay team won a bronze medal later in the session. Hobelmann, Sheeran, McAlister, and Lorenzo Zullo ’26 finished third with a time of 3:22.42, while the B-team finished third and 11th overall with a time of 3:25.01
Saturday evening, in the 400-yard IM, Dillon registered a time of 4:01.76, which set a school record and earned him a bronze medal. The Bullets won another bronze in the 100-yard butterfly when McAlister swam a 49.73. In the 200-yard freestyle, Connor Booth ’27 placed fourth with a time of 1:40.82.
Sheeran won the Bullets yet another bronze in the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming a 55.92. Kim ended the evening with a bronze medal in the 100-yard Backstroke with a time of 51.00.
Sunday evening, Sam Nelson won a gold medal in the 1650-yard freestyle event with a time of 15:52.62. McKenna followed behind him with a silver medal, and Sheeran followed that up with a silver of his own in the 200-yard breaststroke.
In the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Zullo, Booth, Kim, and Hunter Sundlun ’24 finished fourth in the A-final with a swim of 3:04.33.
This packed weekend marked the end of a successful season for the swim team. Now, the squad has shifted their focus to next year and looks to build on the positives.
