GROVE CITY, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--The Grove City College women claimed a pair of individual titles and closed out the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay during Saturday's final session of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Swimming and Diving Championships to secure the program's third-straight team title.

Grove City owns a PAC-best 19 team championships. 

Grove City paced the seven-team championship field with 1,048 points. Saint Vincent College was the runner-up with 765.50 points. 

Westminster College finished third (659) and was followed by Chatham University in fourth (369), Washington & Jefferson College in fifth (330), Franciscan University sixth (272.50) and Bethany College in seventh (7). 

The conference championships were held at Grove City's James E. Longnecker Competition Pool, home of the league’s swimming and diving championships since 1990.

This year's PAC Championships are being conducted on consecutive weekends in February using the NCAA’s three-day, common-site program. The women competed Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 10-12, with the men scheduled to compete Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 17-19.

PAC Swimmer of the Year honors went to Saint Vincent junior Lauren Connors (Pittsburgh, Pa. | Upper St. Clair) while W&J sophomore Taylor Weyrich (McMurray, Pa. | Seton LaSalle) earned the PAC's Diver of the Year award for the second-straight year. Westminster first-year Christina Loewe (Austin, Texas | Veritas Academy) earned the PAC's Newcomer of the Year award.

Saint Vincent head coach Josh Gurekovich was voted the league's Swimming Coach of the Year while W&J's Josh Vasko was voted the league's Diving Coach of the Year. 

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

Weyrich prevailed on both the 1-meter board and 3-meter board, finishing with a score of 431.05 points on the one-meter board Thursday and a score of 432.75 on the three-meter board Saturday. She surpassed the qualifying standards on both boards for the NCAA Division III Region 4 (Northeast/South) Diving Championships on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 25-26. 

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). 

This is Gurekovich's second coach of the year citation with the women. He also claimed the award in 2013. Vasko was a three-time PAC Diver of the Year for W&J. He won conference titles in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives in consecutive years (2014-15 and 2015-16).

Grove City highlighted Saturday's evening session by claiming the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3: 33.42 seconds. Junior Rachael Wallace (Hopewell, Pa. | Hopewell), junior Sarah Gann (Council Bluffs, Iowa | Lewis Central), freshman Sara Kuchma (Pittsburgh, Pa. | North Hills) and sophomore Liz Hasse (East Earl, Pa. | Homeschooled) combined for the win. 

Wallace and Hasse both earned individual wins Saturday night. Wallace claimed the victory in the 200 butterfly (2:06.71) while Hasse won the 100 freestyle (52.48). 

Saint Vincent freshman Sarah Alexander (Catonsville, Md. | Mount De Sales Academy) got Saturday's evening session started by posting a victory in the 1650 freestyle, finishing with a time of 18:34.69. 

Saint Vincent freshman Madison Cassidy (Greensburg, Pa. | Greensburg-Salem) won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:28.39.