Grove City headlines women's swimming and diving coaches' poll

10/6/2022 1:00:00 PM

GREENVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--Grove City College claimed the top spot in this year’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Swimming and Diving Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The league announced the results of its preseason coaches' poll along with its annual swimmers and divers to watch list Thursday afternoon. 

Voted on by each of the conference’s eight head coaches, the league’s preseason coaches’ poll has been in place since the 2014-15 season.

Grove City, directed by 14th-year head coach Dave Fritz, earned six of eight first-place votes and 76 total points. 

Saint Vincent College was second in the poll with one first-place vote and 69 points.

Allegheny College finished third with one first-place vote and 66 points. Allegheny announced its return to the PAC on August 23, 2021 after a 38-year run as a founding member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Allegheny was a PAC member from 1958 through the spring of 1984 and reentered the PAC as its 11th full-time member on July 1, 2022. 

Westminster College was fourth (61 pts.) and was followed by Chatham University in fifth (51 pts.), Washington & Jefferson College in sixth (48 pts.), Franciscan University in seventh (411 pts.) and Bethany College in eighth (36 pts.).

Grove City secured its third-straight PAC title last February. It was the program’s PAC-best 19th team title. Grove City paced the seven-team field with 1,048 points. 


This year’s swimmers and divers to watch list includes 18 returning All-PAC selections, including 12 All-PAC First Team honorees. Of the 20 events contested at last year’s championships, the winners of 11 individual events are mentioned on the list.

Headlining this year’s list are Saint Vincent senior Lauren Connors (Pittsburgh, Pa. | Upper St. Clair) and Westminster sophomore Christina Loewe (Austin, Texas | Veritas Academy). Connor was honored as last year's PAC Swimmer of the Year while Loewe earned the PAC Newcomer of the Year award.  

Connors was Saint Vincent's first-ever women's PAC Swimmer of the Year honoree. She won the 200 backstroke for the third-straight year with a time of 2 minutes, 28.35 seconds. She also led off Saint Vincent's second-place 400 freestyle relay (3:41.47). She anchored Saint Vincent's winning 200 freestyle relay (1:35.66), won the 200 IM (2:12.94) and swam backstroke on the second-place 400 medley relay (4:00.37). Connors swam backstroke on Saint Vincent's second-place 200 medley relay (1:46.82) and won the 100 backstroke (58.37). 

Loewe posted runner-up finishes in both the 100 backstroke (59.78) and the 200 backstroke (2:09.33) and added a sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:00.90). She anchored Westminster's runner-up 800 freestyle relay (8:13.50) and swam backstroke on both the third-place 200 medley relay (1:53.73) and the third-place 400 medley relay (4:08.91). 

The programs at Allegheny, Chatham, Grove City, W&J and Westminster were honored in June by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) as Scholar All-America teams for the spring 2022 semester. 


The swimmers and divers to watch list also includes 11 members of the PAC’s Spring 2022 Academic Honor Roll, which recognizes student-athletes who have earned a grade-point average (GPA) of 3.6 or higher on a 4.0 scale during their semester of competition.

Grove City will once again host the PAC Championships at the James E. Longnecker Competition Pool. Longnecker Pool has been the home of the PAC Championships since 1990. The four-day event is scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, February 15-18. 

The NCAA Division III Region 4 (Northeast/South) Diving Championships are slated for Friday-Saturday, February 24-25. 

The Division III Championships are scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, March 15-18 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. The event will be hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). 
 
2022-23 PAC Women's Swimming and Diving Preseason Coaches' Poll
(Predicted order of Championships finish)
School (first-place votes) Points 2021-22 Championships finish
1. Grove City College (6) 76 1st (of 7) at PAC Championships, 1048 pts.
2. Saint Vincent College (1) 69 2nd (of 7) at PAC Championships, 765.50 pts.
3. Allegheny College (1) 66 7th (of 9) at NCAC Championships, 616 pts.
4. Westminster College 61 3rd (of 7), at PAC Championships, 659 pts.
5. Chatham University 51 4th (of 7) at PAC Championships, 369 pts.
6. Washington & Jefferson College 48 5th (of 7) at PAC Championships, 330 pts.
7. Franciscan University 41 6th (of 7) at PAC Championships, 272.50 pts.
8. Bethany College 36 7th (of 7) at PAC Championships, 7 pts.

2022-23 PAC Women's Swimmers and Divers to Watch
Allegheny
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Maggie Baham Sr. Fly, Free Richmond, Va. | Glen Allen
Ariana Clark Sr. Free, Fly Pittsburgh, Pa. | Freeport
Jenna Halenda Sr. Back, Free Pittsburgh, Pa. | Mars
Olivia Kraus Jr. Free, Fly Pittsburgh, Pa. | North Allegheny
Katya Pryschenko So. Free Malvern, Pa. | Aim Academy
 
Bethany
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Aidah Shuttleworth So. Free, Breast Dayton, Ohio | Chaminade Julienne Catholic
 
Chatham
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Maddy Cisco So. Free, Back Greensburg, Pa. | Hempfield
Ali Cowan So. Dive Derry, Pa. | Derry
Hannah Kane Fr. Free Somerset, Pa. | Somerset
Kaya Vital So. Breast Milford, Conn. | Foran
 
Franciscan
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Bridget Bartosik So. Free Lomita, Calif. | Homeschooled
Kristen Farabaugh So. Breast Charlottesville, Va. | Albemarle
Kate Kinst Fr. Free, IM Pittsburgh, Pa. | Fox Chapel
Olivia Mete Sr. Breast Welland, Ontario | Notre Dame College School
       
Grove City
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Rachel Grubbs Sr. Back Industry, Pa. | Western Beaver
Liz Hasse Jr. Free East Earl, Pa. | Homeschooled
Kamryn Kerr So. Dive East Grand Rapids, Mich. | East Grand Rapids
Rachel Ledford Sr. Back Butler, Pa. | Homeschooled
Rachael Wallace Sr. Fly Hopewell, Pa. | Hopewell
 
Saint Vincent
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Sarah Alexander So. Free Catonsville, Md. | Mount deSales Academy
Sara Basala Sr. Breast, IM Somerset, Pa. | Somerset
Madison Cassidy So. IM, Breast Greensburg, Pa. | Greensburg-Salem
Lauren Connors Sr. Back, IM Pittsburgh, Pa. | Upper St. Clair
Erica Steele Sr. Free Greensburg, Pa. | Greensburg-Salem
 
W&J
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Amanda Graves Jr. Free, Back Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford
Sydney Neumann So. Breast, IM Long Beach, Calif. | Millikan
Taylor Newton So. Free Olyphant, Pa. | Scranton Prep.
Molly Nielsen Jr. Free Erie, Pa. | Harbor Creek
   
Westminster
Name Yr. Events Hometown | High School
Natalie Carlantonio Fr. Free, Back Slippery Rock, Pa. | Slippery Rock
Olivia Herman Jr. Free, Breast Hamburg, N.Y. | Hamburg
Christina Loewe So. Breast Austin, Texas | Veritas Academy
Sara MacMurdo So. Free Pittsburgh, Pa. | Carlynton