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Results
GROVE CITY, Pa. (Dec. 5) – Sophomore
Melissa Gates (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships in the 50 freestyle on Saturday, as the Vulcans finished third at the 13th-annual James E. Longnecker Invitational. The two-day was hosted by Grove City and featured nine teams from both NCAA Division II and III.
The California University of Pennsylvania swimming team collected 603 points while competing in only the swimming events. The host Wolverines easily captured the invitational title with 1,132 points with Washington & Jefferson (619), Cal U and Lock Haven (560) rounding out the top four in the team standings.
Gates qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 50 freestyle when she won the event with a time of 23.49 seconds, tying the pool record which was set by eight-time National Champion and 14-time NCAA All-American
Kaitlyn Orstein of W&J. Gates broke the Longnecker Invitational record in the 50 freestyle. The sophomore from Lancaster also won the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.00 seconds, which is just one-hundredth of a second shy of a reaching the NCAA Championship “A” qualifying time. Gates added a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 8.26 seconds.
Freshman
Georgia Emert (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) captured the top time and broke the Cal U school record in the 200 IM. The 5-11 freshman posted a record-breaking time of 2:13.30 to eclipse the previous mark set
Melanie Ruch by over seven-tenths of a second. Emert also finished second in the 500 freestyle after touching the wall in 5:17.59.
Classmate
Kasey Travitz (Millersburg, Pa./Millersburg) finished third in the 100 backstroke and qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships with a time of 1:02.79.
In the 200 breaststroke, freshman
Caitlyn Sirkoch (Plum, Pa./Plum) posted a time of 2:31.20 to place second in the event while fellow freshman
Bruna Carvalho (Para, Brazil/Miltom Campos) was third in both the 100 (1:01.63) and 200 butterfly (2:14.67).
In the 200 medley relay, Travitz, Sirkoch, Carvalho and Gates finished second after touching the wall in 1:51.17. Meanwhile, in the 800 freestyle relay, senior
Rachel Kurta (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette), freshman
Kelly Geras (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg), junior
Lauren Arnold (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood), and Emert posted a time of 8:11.47 to place second in the 17-team field.
The Vulcans have now qualified nine swimmers for the PSAC Championships.
Cal U is idle for a over month due to finals and the holidays before competing in a tri-meet on Jan. 16 in Huntington, W.Va., against Marshall and Akron, both Division I swimming programs.