Swimming Smashes Records at Centennial Conference Meet
(Photo by David Sinclair/Gettysburg Athletics)
By Max Ferguson, Staff Writer
Last weekend, both the men’s and women’s Bullets swim teams took a road trip to compete in the Centennial Conference swim meet hosted by Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. Both swim teams, which have seen consistent success in recent history, were looking to put a stop to the Swarthmore Garnet’s 3-year conference win streak.
The Garnet, which would be considered Gettysburg’s biggest rival in swimming. Swarthmore has been neck and neck with Gettysburg in standing in recent years. However, in the conference tournament setting, Swarthmore has outpaced the entire field. Going into the tournament, Gettysburg had a perfect season, winning all six of the meets they competed in.
With numerous returning All-Americans on the roster including Delaney Reck ’27, Bramley Hawkins ’26, and Olivia Pyott ’25, the Bullets looked to make a splash in the conference tournament as they entered the four day tournament with the ambition to claim a conference trophy.
On the first day of the tournament, Connor Mangan ’28, Edward Kim ’27, Evan Graham ’28 and Connor Booth ’27 got Gettysburg their first gold of the weekend in the 800 meter freestyle relay. They are the first Bullets to win the event in a decade.
The group also set the second fastest time in the event. Mangan continued his hot streak in the pool the following day when he broke a decade-standing record in the 200 IM preliminary round with a time of 1:50.90 to then beat the record he just set with a time of 1:50.30. Alas, this record breaking performance barely missed the cut for the B-heat.
Saturday marked another record-breaking day for the bullets as Graham smashed the centennial conference record time in the prelims of the 400 meter IM with a 4:00.06. He then broke his own record that night in the finals with a time of 3:56.26 to set a NCAA B-cut, Centennial Conference and program record all in the same race. On the same night, Graham earned another gold medal in the 100 meter backstroke.
The record breaking continued for the men on Saturday when Max McAlister ’26 took a silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly event. He set a Bullets record time of 49.23 seconds in the process. Gold medals continued to fall onto the necks of Gettysburgians on Sunday as Harry Nelson ‘25 and his younger brother Sam Nelson ’27 had an impressive 1-2 finish in the 1650 meter freestyle event. There was yet another 1-2 finish for the Bullets as Connor Mangan and Graham finished first and second in the 200 meter backstroke respectively. His impressive performance earned Graham the honor of Centennial Conference Rookie of the year. At the end of their valiant effort, the Bullets men’s swim team came in second in the conference with 892 team points. Swarthmore won the event with 928 team points.
The women’s Bullets swim team saw similar success in the pool throughout the weekend. The women’s Friday night consisted of three silver medals, one of which was a program record.
Ava Collin ’25, Ava Berry ’27, Mia Yancey ’25 and Lanie McKenzie ’27 set a program record in the 800 meter freestyle relay with a time of 7:34.48. Yancy, along with Mia Morreale ’26, Olivia Pyott ’25, Bramley Hawkins ’26 set yet another program record in the 400 medley relay. In doing so, they became the first Gettysburg women to swim a sub 3:50 time in the race.
Delaney Reck ’27, Maya Knoller ’26, Valerie Lawton ’26 and Yancey started the Bullets Saturday by setting a team record in the 200 meter freestyle relay. The record-setting time earned them a silver medal in the event. Yancey also got the Bullets their first gold of the weekend on Saturday when she took first in the 200 meter freestyle race. Going into Sunday, Berry won her first ever gold medal when she claimed first place in the 1650 meter freestyle race.
Morreale followed on the day with another gold of her own in the 200 meter backstroke where she set two new program records in both the preliminary and finals rounds. The new record time stands at 2:02.79. It is also worth noting she also broke the same record last year, meaning she has held the past three fastest times in the event.
Pyott followed suit with a gold medal of her own in the 200 meter breaststroke event. At the end of the weekend, the Bullets women’s swim team also came in second with 869 team points. Swarthmore won the meet with a team score of 1,017.
The season both the mens and womens teams have put up have been remarkable. Alas, they are not over. Swimmers on both the men’s and women’s teams have been selected to compete in the NCAA DIII National Swim Championships where they will hope to bring home even more hardware for themselves and the Bullets.
The National Championships are being held March 19-22 at Greensboro College in North Carolina.
