32ND WOMEN’S PSAC SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS FEB. 22-25

The 32^nd Annual PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Women’s Swimming Championships will be hosted from Thursday February 22nd through Sunday February 25th at Cumberland Valley High School.

Only one event, the 1000 meter freestyle, will be competed on Thursday at 6:30pm. From Friday through Sunday 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.

The PSAC Women’s Championship has plenty of tradition. Clarion has won 26 of the 31 PSAC Championships determined since 1976. The PSAC Women’s Championship started in 1976 with Clarion winning the first team title, then the Golden Eagles proceeded to run off a total of 23 straight PSAC Championships through 1998. In 1999 IUP broke the string of Clarion wins, then Clarion bounced back to win again in 2000. West Chester bolted to the front and won three straight titles from 2001-2003 before Clarion came back to win in 2004. West Chester won the team title in 2005 and Clarion bounced back to win the 2006 crown.

Clarion hosted the 2006 PSAC Championship at W.S. Tippin Natatorium. The Golden Eagles won the team title scoring 928.5 points, with West Chester second at 890.5 and IUP third with 578. Rounding out the 13-team field were fourth place Bloomsburg at 489, Shippensburg fifth with 417.5, Lock Haven sixth with 341, California seventh at 317.5, Edinboro eighth with 268, Kutztown ninth with 256, Slippery Rock tenth with 212, East Stroudsburg eleventh at 149, Millersville twelfth with 121 and Mansfield thirteenth with 64 points.

West Chester won the team title in its own pool in 2005 scoring 1,073 points, while Clarion was second with 883 and IUP third with 553. Rounding out the thirteen team field were Bloomsburg fourth with 454, Shippensburg fifth at 401, California sixth with 396.5, Kutztown seventh at 268, Slippery Rock eighth with 256, Lock Haven ninth at 210, East Stroudsburg tenth with 207.5, Edinboro eleventh with 180, Millersville twelfth at 112 and Mansfield thirteenth with 66 points.

In 2004 Clarion took the team title with 894.5 points, while West Chester finished second with 773 and Shippensburg was third with 408 and host IUP was fourth with 395.5. Rounding out the 13 team field were fifth place Bloomsburg with 288, Lock Haven sixth at 268, Slippery Rock seventh with 249.5, Kutztown eighth with 230, California ninth with 225.5, East Stroudsburg tenth with 216, Edinboro eleventh with 70, Millersville twelfth at 56 and Mansfield thirteenth with 51.

The 2007 Women’s Championship? "West Chester is the favorite coming in," said seventh year Clarion head coach Mark VanDyke. "West Chester is favored on the psych sheet to win a majority of the individual events and outpoints us on that sheet by over 100 points," he continued. "If Clarion is to challenge for the title, and we think we have a chance to make this pretty close, we’ll have to make up those points with our depth scoring and hit our tapers perfectly. We have to have the lead after Saturday night’s events if we’re going to win the team title".

Clarion’s women finished the 2007 season with an 8-5 dual meet record, including a 214-156 loss to West Chester. Clarion will have eighteen swimmers participating including in alpha order: Margaret Bentley (Fr. Fly/IM, York), Morgan Berkowitz (So., Free/Breast, York), Rebecca Burgess (Fr., Free/Back, Gibsonia), Lee Caffrey (Sr., Free, Washington), Sari Cattoni (Jr., IM/Breast, Lewis Run), Kristy Clarke (Sr., Free, Campbell Hall, N.Y.), Stevie Coble (Jr., Free, Akron), Brittany Hanzl (Sr., Free/Fly, Whitehall), Stacey Humienny (Sr., Free/IM, Steubenville, Oh.), Jessica Kretz (Sr., Breast, Eighty Four), Katie Kuntz (Sr., Free/Fly, N. Canton, Oh.), Lori Leitzinger (Jr., Free/Back, State College), Jamie Maloney (Fr., Free/Breast, York), Vanessa Maus (Sr., Free, Wexford), Stacy Ogden (Sr., Free/Back, Clearfield), Katelyn Ostopick (Sr., Fly/Free, Plains), Melanie Reade (Sr., Free, Erie), Denise Simens (So., Breast, Hollister, Ca.).

According to coach VanDyke the Clarion swimmers likely to challenge for an individual title will be Brittany Hanzl in the 50 and 200 free, Lori Leitzinger in the 100 and 200 backstroke, Katie Kuntz in the 400 IM and Sari Cattoni in the 200 IM. Clarion is currently seeded #1 in the free relays including the 200, 400 and 800 yard free relays. Clarion hopes to score well in the freestyle races and 400 IM, but the key may come in the distance freestyles, where Clarion hopes to balance great depth scoring by West Chester with strong individual performances from its distance team members including Coble, Kuntz, Bentley, Caffrey and Humienny.

CLARION NOTES: Clarion won only the 200 free relay a year ago in winning its 26^th team title ... 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 14-17 in Buffalo, N.Y.. ..... 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. Other close PSAC finishes saw Clarion win by 14.5 over IUP in 1998 and 23.5 over Bloomsburg in 1991...2007 marks the eleventh year diving was eliminated from the PSAC Championship... Diving remains an integral part of the NCAA Championship.