INDIANA, Pa. (EYT) — The Golden Eagle men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams wrapped up the 2023 calendar year with a dominant performance on the road, winning both ends of a tri-meet with IUP and Frostburg State at Pidgeon Natatorium on Saturday afternoon.
The men’s team defeated the Crimson Hawks by a 151-91 score, and the Bobcats with a 181-52 score.
Clarion dominated most of the events over the course of the afternoon, stacking up team points in bunches.
It was evident from the very first event of the day that the Golden Eagles were going to be a handful as they took the top two spots in the 200 Medley Relay. Mason Peck, Henry Miller, Connor Cary and Austin Prokopec took the top spot in the event with a time of 1:31.74, while the quartet of David Bocci, Gavin Guckavan, Aidan Mohren and Ryan Ehlers edged out IUP’s top team with a time of 1:35.28.
Cary would be the first individual to win an event on Saturday, pacing the field in the 50 Free. The senior touched the wall in 21:17, putting him just ahead of the Bobcats’ Julian Najarro Sedar, who finished in 21.45.
Dom Cortopassi tacked on another win in the 200 IM, finishing in 1:52.93, while Michael Lintelman placed third with a 1:58.07.
The duo of Bocci and Miller were able to post a big scoring performance in the 100 Fly, taking the top two spots in the event. Bocci won with a time of 50.01 while Miller was just a third of a second behind him, at 50.34. Prokopec and Peck turned that same trick in the 100 Free, taking first and second with times of 46.32 and 47.17, respectively.
Things culminated in the 100 Back, with Golden Eagle swimmers representing the top three finishers and four of the top five.
Cortopassi won his second event of the day with a time of 51:46, following by Guckavan (52.45) and Mohren (52.94) to round out the top three.
Aidan Ochoa took fifth with a time of 54.78. Cortopassi, Peck, Prokopec and Guckavan closed out the swimming events with a win in the 200 Free Relay, finishing in 1:25.85.
Jack Beattie and Zach Schering carried the diving events for the Golden Eagles, winning the 1-Meter and the 3-Meter dives, respectively. Beattie won the 1-Meter dive with a score of 271.43 and Schering was just behind him, at 268.10. Schering, meanwhile, took first in the 3-Meter dive with a score of 306.23.
Women’s Team Sweeps Tri-Meet with IUP, Frostburg State
The Golden Eagle women’s swimming & diving team also finished out the calendar year with a tri-meet sweep, beating IUP and Frostburg State.
Clarion beat the Crimson Hawks by a score of 162-79, and the Bobcats by a 202-34 margin.
The Golden Eagles stacked points in a number of events, putting multiple racers at or near the top of their respective events to build their advantage.
They started the day with a win in the 200 Medley Relay, with the foursome of Zoey Beck, Ava Rosely, Hannah Greenway, and Madelynn McTeer leading the field by nearly three full seconds, at 1:46.96.
Joslyn Jurski–who posted a pair of NCAA B cuts a week before–was the first individual to win an event on Saturday, leading the way in the 1000 Free with a time of 10:33.37.
The first big stack of points came in the 200 Free, with Clarion swimmers making up the top three spots.
Amanda Fetsko took first with a time of 1:58.04, followed by Erika Zimmerman in 1:58.36 and Jordan Kutchak at 2:00.45. The Golden Eagles repeated that trick in the 50 Free, with Greenway (23.73), McTeer (24.78) and Beck (25.32) finishing 1-2-3.
Michaela Hinkson and Emma Dorsey kept the momentum rolling in the 100 Fly, with Hinkson winning by posting a time of 58.95. Dorsey was not far behind her, touching the wall in 59.87.
Jurski won her second individual event of the day late in the meet, taking the top spot in the 500 Free with a time of 5:10.77, and Ava Rosely closed out the individual events with a winning time of 1:07.72 in the 100 Breast.
The team rounded out the night with a clean sweep of the top three spots in the 200 Free Relay. Kutchak, Fetsko, Jurski and Haley Miller were the top finishers, posting a time of 1:38.50, followed by Dorsey, Maddy Murphy, Rosely and Gabrielle Webster’s 1:42.90. Hinkson, Maria Wold, Zimmerman and Allison McMurray took third overall with a time of 1:43.02.
In the diving events, Katie Madigan led a quintet of Golden Eagles in the 1-Meter dive, posting a score of 235.81. Just behind her was Alexa Gonczi, who posted a mark of 232.31.
Luna Castellanos was the victor in the 3-meter Dive, posting a score of 254.93. Gonczi was second there as well, finishing with a 250.58.
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