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Feb. 22, 2009
Brittany Watkins posted a time of 1:56.58 in a 200-yard time trial Sunday morning to help the IUP women's 800 freestyle relay team qualify for the NCAA national meet, highlighting the final day of the PSAC championships at Cumberland Valley High School. After being disqualified in the 800 freestyle Saturday night, IUP had one more chance to earn a berth at nationals. Watkins time in the time trial, combined with the best 200 times this season by teammates Jen Price, Melissa Kucharczuk and Bethany Johnston, clinched a place at nationals. The qualifying time enables the IUP foursome to compete in all five relays at nationals as well as individual events in which they earned either an NCAA A or B cut time. Price will be entered in the 100, 200, 500 and 1000 freestyles, Watkins will swim in the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley and Kucharczuk will compete in the 200 freestyle. IUP swimmers accounted for a total of six top eight places, led by Pawel Glowiak who was third in the men's 200 backstroke with a time of 1:54.18 for an NCAA B cut. Dylan Mudlo also had a B cut time and finished fourth in the 200 butterfly with a mark of 1:55.13 and David Donovan was seventh in the 1650 freestyle in 16:36.93. The men's 400 freestyle relay team of Glowiak, Walter Smith, Luke Shaheen and Jeff Gavin was fourth in 3:08.91. In the women's meet, Casey Beck was fourth in the 200 backstroke and gained an NCAA B cut with a time of 2:07.64. The women's 400 freestyle relay team of Price, Kucharczuk, Watkins and Galit Regev was fifth in 3:34.48. Other scorers for the men's team in individual events were Gavin, who was 11th in the 1650 freestyle (16:44.69), Jeremy Freedman, who was 14th in the 200 butterfly (2:01.39), and Smith (48.07) and Shaheen (48.23), who were 14th and 16th, respectively, in the 100 freestyle. Contributing points for the women were Kucharczuk, who was 10th in the 100 freestyle (53.82), Kate Rowe (2:31.32) and Watkins (2:32.11), who were 13th and 14th, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke, Kara Peters, who was 15th in the 1650 freestyle (18:07.72) and Erin Barbetta, who was 16th in the 200 backstroke (2:15.98). The women finished in fifth place while the men were sixth. West Chester won the women's meet with 660.5 points, followed by Clarion (560), California (495), Gannon (352.5) and IUP (287.5). The Golden Rams also won the men's meet with 812 points, followed by Shippensburg (544.5), Clarion (504), Gannon (362), Bloomsburg (342.5) and IUP (326). The national championships will be part of the NCAA Division II Winter Sports Festival March 11-14 in Houston. |
