The 28^th Annual PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Women’s Swimming Championships will be hosted from Wednesday February 19th through Saturday February 22nd at West Chester’s Graham Natatorium.

Only one event, the 1000 meter freestyle, will be competed on Wednesday at 7pm. From Thursday through Saturday prelims are set each day at 10am and finals are slated to start at 6pm. The Men’s PSAC Championship will also run at the same time in an alternating event format.

Tickets for the championship will be on sale at the door. All-Session passes will cost $35 for adults and $10 for students. Individual session passes will also be available at $5 for adults for the prelims and $7 for adults at the finals, and $2 for students at all sessions.

West Chester won the PSAC Championship scoring 740 points, Clarion was second with 389 and Bloomsburg third with 272. Rounding out the 12 team field were fourth place Shippensburg at 244, Slippery Rock fifth with 127, East Strousdburg sixth with 117, Indiana (IUP) seventh at 87, Millersville eighth with 76, Kutztown ninth with 66, Edinboro tenth with 47, Lock Haven eleventh with 36 and Mansfield twelfth with 7 points. California (Pa) will be competing in 2003 for the first time.

West Chester hosted the 2001 championship and won the team title scoring 681 points, while second place Clarion notched 399.5 and Shippensburg was third with 252.

Clarion has won 24 of the 27 titles conducted by the PSAC. The Golden Eagles won the PSAC’s first 23 titles (1976-98), but in 1999 IUP dethroned the Golden Eagles in the closest meet in PSAC history (399.5 - 396.5). In 2000, at IUP, Clarion took the title back scoring 446 points, while West Chester was second with 426.5 and IUP was third with 370.5.

The 2003 Championship? "West Chester will be the prohibitive favorite to win the title," said Clarion third year head coach Mark VanDyke. "They have a number of outstanding swimmers seeded first or second and they will score a lot of points. On paper we should be a solid second with Bloomsburg and Shippensburg battling for third."

Clarion has posted a quality 2003 dual meet record of 5-1 defeating Allegheny twice, along with Carnegie Mellon (208-91), So. Connecticut State 281-83 and Duquesne (140-121). Clarion’s lone loss came at West Chester (209-155). The Golden Eagles have a three year record of 20-4 under VanDyke.

Ready to lead the Golden Eagles will be captain Katie Zimmer (Sr. N. Ridgeville, Ohio- Berea).

Also ready to swim for the Golden Eagles are in alpha order are Melissa Baer (Sr. Breinigsville- Parkland), Bethany Bankovich (Jr. Latrobe), Sarah Besecker (Fr. Chambersburg), Jessica DiLoreto (Jr. Erie-McDowell), Julie Dlugos (Fr. South Park), Brehan Heebner (Fr. Reading), Alyssa Helm (Sr. Mohrsville-Wilson), April Johnson (Sr. York/Red Lion), Lauren Kalata (Fr. Trumbull, Ct.), Abby Koch (Sr. Harmony- Seneca Valley), Erin Smith (So. Monroeville- Gateway), Brandi Smithson (Jr. Mechanicsville, Va.), Abby Starsinic (So. Harrisburg - Central Dauphin), Megan Trimbur (Jr. Warren, Ohio - Harding), Bethany Turse (Jr. Swedesboro, N.J. - Kingsway) and Aimee Weis (So. Latrobe).

Who could challenge for first place honors this week? "I think Missy Baer has a good shot at the 1000 or the 1650, Turse or Trimbur could challenge for the 50 free, Koch in the 400 IM and possibly Bethany Bankovich in the 100 and 200 fly," said VanDyke. "Bethany will be facing the top seed in the nation in those two races so she will have a tough time. We expect our swimmers to post some quality times this weekend and we’ll just go from there. We’re ready to swim fast."

CLARION NOTES: Each swimmer can swim a maximum of 7 events this weekend and no more than three individual events... In school history Clarion has won 8 NCAA titles (1977, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 & 86)... Clarion will be at the NCAA D-II Nationals on March 12-15 at Grand Forks, North Dakota... Other close PSAC finishes saw Clarion win by 14.5 over IUP in 1998 and 23.5 over Bloomsburg in 1991...2003 marks the seventh year diving was eliminated from the PSAC Championship... Diving remains an integral part of the NCAA Championship.