COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's swimming team's record-setting weekend at the Golden Ram Classic was rewarded with a national ranking. The Bears, who broke three Centennial Conference marks at West Chester University, landed in a tie for 19th in the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America Division III poll. Ursinus is fourth in the latest Northeast South regional rankings. The men's swimming team received votes in the national rankings.
Ursinus earned 59 points in the latest national poll, which tied the Bears with Amherst. Defending champion Emory topped the rankings with 274 points, with Kenyon (264) and Denison (254) close behind. The Bears (7-0, 4-0 CC), winners of 34 straight dual meets overall and 21 in a row within the conference, captured the Golden Ram Classic title behind conference records in the 200- and 400-yard medley relays, as well as the 100-yard backstroke, where freshman Peyten Lyons (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) touched the wall in 56.60 seconds to break a mark that had stood since 2004. Ursinus joined fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins as the only Centennial Conference programs to crack the poll; Gettysburg received votes.
The Ursinus men (5-2, 2-2 CC) are one of only three CC teams to appear among Division III's elite. Johns Hopkins came in at fourth, while Gettysburg earned six points to join the Bears behind six other schools that received votes.