Women's Swimming Outlasts Gettysburg

Women's Swimming Outlasts Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – In a matchup between unbeaten squads, the No. 18 Ursinus women's swimming team downed Gettysburg by a count of 141-121 to extend the Bears' coveted conference dual meet winning streak to 42 straight victories.

Ursinus won nine of the 14 completed events to improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Centennial.

In the Bears' closest meet of the young season, sophomore Sophie May set two of the fastest marks in the conference in the 200 free and 200 backstroke. May was also a key cog to the 400 freestyle relay team, which also set a quick time in the conference.

May, freshman Sophie Lear, and senior Clara Baker each won a pair of events and were crucial to relay victories in the pool at the Battlefield. Baker was a part of four event wins on the day.

The 200 free race went down to the wire as May and Gettysburg's Lindsay Hayden were in a tightly-contested race. May bested Hayden to the wall by .45 seconds with a blazing time of 1:58.03.

May just beat out senior teammate Peyten Lyons by seven hundredths of a second for the top time in the CC with a 2:10.65 in the 200 back.

To open the meet, the relay team of Baker, Lear, Lyons, and junior Haley Sturla easily won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.54.

Ursinus took the top two spots in the 100 back. Touching the wall first was Lyons (1:00.91), and sophomore Katherine Kurzinsky came in second at 1:02.66.

Baker won the 200 butterfly (2:11.22). Baker's time was less than a tenth of a tick off her conference-best time.

Lear continued her first-year dominance with a win the 50 freestyle, missing her conference-leading time by six hundredths of a second with a 24.43. Lear outkicked Gettysburg's Kate Crilly (24.58) to the wall.

In the first race after intermission, Lear edged Crilly for back-to-back wins as the rookie's 53.25 won the 100 free.

Baker turned on the jets again with another blazing time in the 100 butterfly (58.59). She is the only CC swimmer to post a sub-one minute time as she recorded the top mark of 58.23 against Swarthmore. Freshman Liv Rachael finished third (1:02.56) for the Bears.

To wrap up the meet, the relay squad of May, Baker, Lear and Rachael won the 400 free relay (3:39.16) for the best time in the conference so far this season.

For Gettysburg (5-1, 3-1), Kat Sears and Katie Cooper each won two individual races. Sears set the fastest time in the conference at 10:49.39 in the 1000 free. Sears gained momentum halfway through the 40-pool length race and passed Ursinus freshman Katie Schultz, who came home second in a time of 11:00.85.

Cooper won the 100 breast in a time of 1:07.73. Sturla (1:11.15) and freshman Stephanie Chell (1:11.27) claimed the second and third spots.

In the 200 breast, Bullet swimmer Cooper picked up her second win of the meet in a CC-best time of 2:28.24.

In the 500 free, Gettysburg's Sears also registered her second win (5:20.51) as Schultz came in second (5:23.67).

Gettysburg's Sydney Jaramillo beat out Lyons in the 200 IM by a mere three hundredths of a second (2:14.62).

The Bears get back into competition after the holiday break for the Golden Ram Classic at West Chester on Dec. 7-8.