GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's swimming team continued its record-breaking ways on Day Two of the Centennial Conference championships. As a result, a third straight conference title is right in the Bears' grasp.
A day after setting three new CC records, Ursinus broke three more on Saturday and will take a lead of more than 100 points into the third and final day of competition. The Bears sit atop the team standings with 561 points, followed by Gettysburg (450) in second and Washington College (345.5) in a distant third.
In the most thrilling race of the weekend, the 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Peyten Lyons, sophomore Olivia Tierney, freshman Clara Baker, and senior Micaela Lyons touched the wall a hundredth of a second in front of Gettysburg's group in a conference and championship record time of 1:46.10, shattering the previous mark by more than a second and a half. The Bears trailed after the first two strokes, but Baker and Lyons made up the ground to help the Red and Gold celebrate a dramatic victory.
Juniors Alexandra Hemp and Katie Pielmeier and sophomores Katherine Porter and Sydney Gundersen won the B final of the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:48.23.
Pielmeier logged a bronze medal in the 400-yard IM (4:36.10), and freshman Samantha Kegel was close behind in fifth (4:41.96); fellow rookie Caroline Powell placed fourth in the B finals with a PR of 4:49.49.
Baker dominated the 100 butterfly prelims, posting an NCAA B cut time of 55.54 to overtake a conference record that had stood since 2012, and Porter (57.25) and Leitz (58.04) gave the Bears a 1-2-3 finish.
Baker was just off her record-setting pace in the finals, touching in 55.74 to claim another gold medal and outpace her competition by nearly three full seconds. Leitz collected silver with a 58.42, and four other Bears earned points in another impressive showing. Hemp won the B finals in 58.98, freshman Gabriella Timuscuk was second in 59.42, and sophomore Reney Hess and freshman Julia Adams finished fourth and fifth in the B heat.
Senior Corinne Capodanno captured gold in the 200-yard freestyle for the second straight year, finishing the race in an NCAA B-cut 1:52.11 to edge Dickinson's Olivia Lyman by .31 seconds; the senior already holds the conference, championship, and pool records in the event, which she established a year ago. Gundersen finished just off the podium with a 1:53.70, good for fourth place, and freshman Kathryn Longenecker was fourth in the B finals; both achieved new personal bests.
Tierney took sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.62).
Peyten Lyons rolled to gold with an NCAA B-cut clocking in the 100-yard backstroke (57.27), erasing a slight deficit at the turn to pass Dickinson's Katie Schmidt by 1.29 seconds. Micaela Lyons finished seventh, and freshman Katie Madden's 1:00.47 was the best in the B final.
Leitz, Capodanno, Gundersen, and Peyten Lyons ended the night with a flourish, cruising to a gold medal with a new conference and championship record mark of 7:40.43, nearly six seconds ahead of their closest competition and good for another Division III B-cut. Capodanno was part of the previous record-holding relay group, which logged a 7:41.35 two years ago.
Timuscuk, Powell, Kegel, and Longenecker took the B final with a time of 7:57.48.
