Grove City's Rachael Wallace (B-cut, 100 fly) with Grove City's Kamryn Kerr, Chatham's Ali Cowan and W&J's Taylor Weyrich (regional diving qualifiers)
GREENVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) announced the 2021-22 All-PAC Women's Swimming and Diving teams Wednesday, with a total of 44 student-athletes recognized for their efforts at this year's PAC Swimming and Diving Championships.
The all-conference swimming and diving teams are determined by a formula-based selection process using student-athletes' individual and relay finishes at the league’s annual championships.
Twenty student-athletes earned a spot on the All-PAC First Team. Eighteen were named to the All-PAC Second Team while six were named All-PAC Honorable Mention.
Grove City College led the way with 17 all-conference selections. Saint Vincent College totaled 11 honorees and was followed by Westminster College (9), Washington & Jefferson College (4), Chatham University (2) and Franciscan University (1).
Grove City secured its third-straight PAC title on February 12. It was the program’s PAC-best 19th team title. The Wolverines paced the seven-team field with 1,048 points. Saint Vincent was the runner-up with 765.50 points.
Westminster finished third (659) and was followed by Chatham in fourth (369), W&J in fifth (330), Franciscan in sixth (272.50) and Bethany College in seventh (7).
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.
The conference championships were once again held at Grove City's James E. Longnecker Competition Pool. Longnecker Pool has been the home of the league’s championships since 1990.
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 night with a time of 2 minutes, 28.35 seconds. She also led off Saint Vincent's second-place 400 freestyle relay (3:41.47). Last 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).