Courtesy: Presidents’ Athletic Conference
GROVE CITY, Pa. -The Westminster College women captured their fifth Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Swimming & Diving Championship title, and first since 2007, Saturday evening.
Westminster trailed Grove City College, winners of 10-straight PAC titles and league-best 16 conference banners, by 46 points heading in Saturday’s evening session. The Titans registered a pair of individual championships Saturday night to secure the PAC title.
The conference championships were held at Grove City’s James E. Longnecker Competition Pool. Longnecker Pool has been the home of the league’s swimming and diving championships since 1990.
Westminster paced the six-team championship field with 906 points. Grove City totaled 878 points to finish as the runner-up. Saint Vincent College (535), Chatham University (501), Washington & Jefferson College (187) and Bethany College (38) rounded out the team scoring.
PAC Swimmer of the Year honors went to Grove City junior Anne Shirley Dassow (Lookout Mountain, Tenn. | Chattanooga Christian) for the third-straight year. She is the first women’s swimmer to collect MVP honors in three-straight seasons since W&J’s Kaitlyn Orstein won four straight from 2005-08.
Dassow cruised to her second-straight league title in the 50 free Thursday with a time of 24.03 seconds and was a member of Grove City’s winning 400 medley relay (3:56.94). Other members of the relay were junior Kimmi Wendelschaefer (Grove City, Pa. | Grove City), junior Danielle Ledyard (Greensburg, Pa. | Hempfield) and junior Britt Byer (Canonsburg, Pa. | Canon-McMillan).
Friday, she won her third-straight PAC title in the 100 fly with a NCAA Division III B-cut time of 55.81. She also swam on Grove City’s winning 200 medley (1:47.53) and 800 free (7:52.05) relays.
Other members of the Wolverines’ 200 medley relay included sophomore Denali Hutzelmann (Milford, Pa. | Delaware Valley), Ledyard and freshman Jenny Baglia (Grove City, Pa. | Grove City). Freshman Emily Vanderweele (San Antonio, Texas | Great Hearts Monte Vista), Wendelschaefer and Byer joined Dassow on the 800 free relay.
On Saturday, Dassow won her third-straight league title in the 200 fly with a B-cut time of 2:02.77. Dassow is the defending Division III champion in the 200 fly. She also swam on Grove City’s second-place 400 free relay (3:34.38).
Grove City sophomore Reilly Diggins (Sewickley, Pa. | Quaker Valley) was named the PAC Diver of the Year. She finished first in Saturday’s 11-dive, one-meter event, posting a winning score of 413.50. She was the runner-up in the 11-dive, one-meter event Thursday with a score of431.55. Diggins qualified for the Division III Regional Championships in both diving events.
PAC Swimming Coach of the Year honors went to Westminster third-year head coach Pat Smith. Westminster fifth-year assistant coach Heath Calhoun claimed the PAC’s Diving Coach of the Year award.
Saint Vincent sophomore Marion D’Aurora (Leonardtown, Md. | Saint Mary’s Reiken) won the 1650 for the second-straight year after posting a time of 18:03.90.
Chatham sophomore Mallory Marzolf (Cheswick, Pa. | Deer Lakes) claimed her second-straight PAC title in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:06.07.
Westminster senior Carolyn Novak (Pittsburgh, Pa. | Upper St. Clair) won the 100 free after posting a time of 53.46. She was third in the event in 2018.
Westminster junior Maggie Manolis (Jeannette, Pa. | Jeannette) won the 200 breast with a time of 2:26.35. She finished fourth in the event in 2018.
Saint Vincent closed out the night by winning the 400 free relay with a time of 3:33.97. Relay members included senior Maddie Bartrug (Bridgeville, Pa. | South Fayette), senior Sam Mears (Monroeville, Pa. | Gateway), junior Claire Kenna (Chantilly, Va. | Seton School) and senior Ciara Lewis (Buena Vista, Pa. | Elizabeth Forward).
Division III’s regional diving championships are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 1-2. PAC divers that achieve regional qualifying standards will participate in the Division III Region 4 (Northeast/South) Championships, which will be hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology and held at Judson Pool in Rochester, New York.
Qualifiers for this year’s Division III Championships will be announced at 10 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, February 27. The Division III Championships are scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, March 20-23 and are being held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.