TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Winners of five consecutive league championships, Grove City College was picked as the favorite in the 2024-25 Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Swimming and Diving Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The results of the poll, along with its annual swimmers and divers to watch list, were announced Friday morning. 

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

Grove City, directed by 16th-year head coach Dave Fritz, earned seven of eight first-place votes and 77 total points. Fritz was named the 2023-24 PAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Wolverines to their 15th title in the last 16 years, while the Wolverines' Fred Evanoff was voted as the Diving Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.

Coming in second place was Saint Vincent College with the final first-place vote and 70 points, while Westminster College placed third with 65 points.

Fourth place went to Washington & Jefferson College with 59 points in front of Franciscan University, who was fifth with 52 points. Finishing sixth was Allegheny College with 47 points, followed by Chatham University with 43 points and Bethany College with 35 points.

Grove City claimed its fifth straight PAC championship last February, the program’s PAC-best 21st team title. Grove City outscored the eight-team field with 1,031.5 points, while Westminster took second with 659.5 points and Saint Vincent claimed third with 593 points. 

This year’s swimmers and divers to watch list includes 19 returning All-PAC selections, including 12 All-PAC First Team honorees. Of the 20 events contested at last year’s championships, the winners of nine individual events are mentioned on the list.

This year’s list is highlighted by a pair of major award winners from last season's PAC Championships, including Grove City senior Kamryn Kerr, who repeated as the PAC Diver of the Year, and Saint Vincent sophomore Rachel Hutchinson, who earned PAC Newcomer of the Year distinction.

Kerr claimed her second consecutive PAC Diver of the Year award after she was first on the three-meter board with an NCAA Regional Championship Qualifying score of 417.90. In addition to winning her second straight three-meter title, she also finished as the runner-up in one-meter diving. 

Hutchinson became the first Saint Vincent female swimmer to secure the Newcomer award after she won PAC titles in the 500 and 1,650 Freestyles and earned a runner-up finish in the 400 Individual Medley.

There are also two multiple individual-event winners back this season and on the Watch list. They include Allegheny junior Josephine Reiter, who swept the 100 and 200 Breaststroke championships and Grove City sophomore Ashley Rauhauser, who finished first in the 100 and 200 Backstrokes. 

The swimmers and divers to watch list also includes 11 members of the PAC’s 2023-2024 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 is set to serve as host the PAC Championships once again at the James E. Longnecker Competition Pool, which has been the home of the PAC Championships since 1990. The four-day event will be Wednesday-Saturday, February 19-22. 

The NCAA Division III Region 4 (Northeast/South) Diving Championships are slated for Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1.

The Division III Championships are scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, March 19-22 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. The event will be hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). 
 

2024-25 PAC Women's Swimming and Diving Preseason Coaches' Poll (Predicted order of Championships finish)
School (first-place votes)	Points	2023-24 Championships finish
1. Grove City College (7)	77	1st (of 8) at PAC Championships, 1031.5 pts.
2. Saint Vincent College (1)	70	3rd (of 8) at PAC Championships, 593 pts.
3. Westminster College	65	2nd (of 8) at PAC Championships, 659.5 pts.
4. Washington & Jefferson College	59	5th (of 8), at PAC Championships, 293 pts.
5. Franciscan University	52	4th (of 8) at PAC Championships, 337 pts.
6. Allegheny College	47	6th (of 8) at PAC Championships, 286 pts.
7. Chatham University	43	7th (of 8) at PAC Championships, 211 pts.
8. Bethany College	35	8th (of 8) at PAC Championships, 168 pts.

2024-25 PAC Women's Swimmers and Divers to Watch

1=2023-24 1st Team All-PAC / 2=2nd Team All-PAC / HM = Honorable Mention
Allegheny
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Anna Kohler (2)	Jr.	Sprints/Fly	Sewickley, Pa./Avonworth
Katya Pryshchenko (2)	Sr.	Distance/Back	Berwyn, Pa./Aim Academy
Josephine Reiter (1)	Jr.	Free/Breast	Pittsburgh, Pa./CAPA

 

Bethany
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
JulieAnne Humpe	Fr.	Back/Fly/IM	Yorkville, Ohio/Wheeling Central Catholic
Aeriale Knopsnider	Jr.	Back/Free	Normalville, Pa./Connellsville
Janyah Withers	So.	Free/Back	Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville

 

Chatham
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Ali Cowan (1)	Sr.	Diving	Derry, Pa./Derry
Alayna Kercher	FY	Distance Free	Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin
Siera Schmitt	So.	Breast/IM	Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford
Hannah Uhrinek	FY	Fly/Free	Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield

 

Franciscan
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Katarina Antonov (2)	Jr.	Distance Free	Ocala, Fla./Vanguard
Kate Kinst	Jr.	Distance Free	Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel

       

Grove City
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Mikaela Jenkins (1)	Sr.	Fly	Evansville, Ind./F.J. Ritz
Kamryn Kerr (1)	Sr.	Diving	East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids
Freja Kile	Fr.	Free	Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair
Emma Plank (1)	Sr.	IM/Distance	Slippery Rock, Pa./Portersville Christian
Ashley Rauhauser (1)	So.	Back/IM	York, Pa./Homeschooled

 

Saint Vincent
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Sarah Alexander (1)	Sr.	Free	Catonsville, Md./Mount deSales Academy
Rachel Hutchinson (1)	So.	Free/IM	Bryan, Texas/Bryan
Abby Leskovansky (1)	Sr.	Free/Back	Houtzdale, Pa./Homeschooled
Emma Martz (1)	Jr.	IM/Fly	Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield

 

W&J
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Luna Balzano (2)	So.	Fly	El Portal, Fla./Broward Virtual School
Sophia Garrett (2)	So.	Free/Back	Cincinnati, Ohio/Saint Ursula Academy
Maddie Malone	So.	Breast/IM	Charlottesville, Va./Monticello

   

Westminster
Name	Yr.	Events	Hometown/High School
Preslie Bodine (HM)	So.	Breast	Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary
Christina Loewe (1)	Sr.	Fly/Back	Austin, Texas/Veritas Academy
Sara MacMurdo (2)	Sr.	Free	Pittsburgh, Pa./Carlynton
Maddy McClain (1)	So.	Free	Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward