Lycoming Swimming Earns Three Top Seeds at MAC's
Albright Still Team to Beat with Scranton, Widener in Pursuit

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- Although Albright College remains the team to beat during this weekend’s Middle Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships, the Lycoming men’s and women’s swim teams won’t be easy for the defending champions to push around.

On the women’s side, freshman Julie Harahush (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) and senior Kelly Sykes (Willimantic, Conn./Windham) will start as the top swimmers in three events.  Harahush heads up the competition in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races.  Her 24.98 seconds qualifying time in the 50-free is not only a Warrior record, but is more than a half a second faster than the second seeded swimmer.   Even more impressive, Harahush’s time 100-free time of 54.39 seconds is better than three-quarters of a second quicker than the nearest qualifier.

Sykes commands the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke, qualifying with a time of 1:02.29 which is 0.83 seconds faster than the next best time.  She also sits nicely as the fourth seed in the 200-yard backstroke, the same position she holds in the 100-yard butterfly.

“Julie continues Lycoming's tradition of great sprinters entering the meet as the top seed in both the 50 and 100 freestyles,” mentioned Lycoming head coach Jerry Hammaker.  “Kelly Sykes is a great veteran senior.  I'm looking for big things from these two along with a number of other women who look to step it up and drop a great deal of time at this meet.”

Senior Steve Hawley (New Cumberland, Pa./Trinity) spearheads a men’s squad as the number one seed in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.01 seconds.  The winner of that event last season, Hawley also hopes for a repeat victory in the 100-yard backstroke, but he has some work to do as he hits the water as the third seed with a time of 55.39 seconds.

“Steve always seems to come up big at this meet, so we are hoping his experience will again pull him through to multiple conference championships,” said Coach Hammaker.  “I know he is also looking to better his times from last year when he was an NCAA B cut qualifier and Academic All-American.”

Other Warriors to watch include senior Jeff Swatkins (Guilford, Conn./Xavier) and junior Amy Gatehouse (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park).  Swatkins looks to improved on a second-place finish in last year’s 100-yard butterfly and a third place showing in the 200-yard fly.  Gatehouse is coming off a third place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2005.

Perennial power Albright appears to be the team to beat on both the men’s and women’s sides, but plenty of teams could surprise after weeks of taper-training.  In the men’s division, the three-time defending champion Lions of head coach John Stultrager are led by senior Eric Daney (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock), a six-time conference champion who will defend his titles in the 200 individual medley and the 200 back. 

Albright also welcomes returns six other swimmers who placed in the top five at the 2005 championships, including senior Charles Beatty (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock) in the 200 breaststroke (2^nd), 100 breaststroke (3^rd), and 200 individual medley (4^th); senior Michael Owens (Birdsboro, Pa./Central Catholic) in the 100 breaststroke (2^nd); senior Robert Stratton (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock) in the 50 (4^th) and 100 free (4^th); junior Richard Branagan (Marston Mills, Mass./Cape Cod Tech) in the 400 individual medley (4^th) and 200 butterfly (6^th); junior Benjamin Hatt (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson) in the 200 free (4^th) and 200 backstroke (4^th); and sophomore Adam Daney (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) in the 200 free (2^nd).

Six-time champion Widener University, which won its most recent titles in 2001 and 2002, has the talent to upstage Albright.  Senior Matt Snyder (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area) will look to make it four titles in a row in the 200 breaststroke and is also the defending champion in the 100 breaststroke, while sophomore Kevin Carson (Saint Peters, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) won the 100 and 200 butterfly and was third in the 200 individual medley at last year’s meet. Veteran head coach Bob Piotti has three other swimmers returning who placed at the 2005 championships, including junior Frank Vineis (Pompton Plains, N.J./Pequannock Township) in the 200 (3^rd) and 100 breaststroke (4^th); sophomore Kevin Adair (Medford, N.J./Holy Cross), in the 50 (3^rd) and 100 free (3^rd); and sophomore John Kiely (Elverson, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) in the 400 individual medley (3^rd).

Senior captain Nick Hoover (Langhorne, Pa./Notre Dame), fourth in the 100 fly at last year’s meet, and sophomore Jeff Fornadley (Hummelstown, Pa./Hershey), second in the 50 free, are Susquehanna’s key returning veterans.

Scranton’s top point-producers are expected to be senior Patrick McKenzie (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./St. Joseph’s Preparatory), junior Billy Beyer (Highland Mills, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) and freshman Joseph Veselovsky (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park).  McKenzie is a distance specialist who placed second in the 1650 free and fourth in the 500 free at last year’s championship, while Beyer will look to break into the top five again after finishing third in the 200 free.  Veselovsky is seeded first in the 100 butterfly after setting a new school-record in a time of :53.94 earlier this season.

Sophomores Rachel Cantwell (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson) and Cheyenne Gehman (Boyertown, Pa./Boyerstown) lead a talented Albright contingent in the women’s division.  As freshmen, Cantwell (200 IM, 100 & 200 breaststroke) and Gehman (100 & 200 fly) combined for five individual titles as the Lions won their fifth championships in the last six seasons.  Three other Lions to watch include junior Erin Jagielski (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin), the 2003 and 2005 champion in the 200 freestyle, senior Margaret Jones (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove), who placed fourth in the 50 and 100 free last season, and senior Mandi Carroll (Norristown, Pa./Norristown), the 2003 champion in the 100 butterfly.

Scranton, which snapped Albright’s four-year reign as conference champions by winning the team title in 2004, will count on juniors Rosie Moran (West Chester, Pa./Unionville), the defending champion in the 500 and 1650 free, and Jill Palmiotto (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield), two-time defending champion in the 200 backstroke.  Others to watch include senior Erin Williams (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus), the 2004 champion in the 100 butterfly, and junior Amanda Tryon (Syosset, N.Y./Walt Whitman), fourth in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 100 backstroke at last year’s meet.

Senior Stephanie Olson (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine), junior Kimberly Conway (Yardley, Pa./Nazareth Academy) and sophomore Jessica Peck (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) will carry Widener’s hopes for victory this weekend.  Olson was third in the 100 backstroke, Peck placed second in the 1650 free, and Conway was runner-up in both the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley at last year’s meet.    Sophomore Kasey Brough (Gardners, Pa./Carlisle), third in the 500 free and fifth in the 1650 free at last year’s championship, junior Amy Sutherland (Norwich, N.Y./Norwich), third in the 200 backstroke, and senior Kim Dierolf (Barto, Pa./Boyertown Area), third in the 1650 free, highlight a Juniata squad that placed third overall in the team standings last season.

Also expected to challenge for an individual title junior Keeley Trumbo (Chester Springs, Pa./Great Valley) of Elizabethtown, who was third in both the 100 and 200 butterfly at last year’s event.

All action at the MAC’s will be staged at the Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, this Friday through Sunday, February 10-12.  Friday’s action begins with preliminaries at noon, followed by finals at 7:00 p.m.  Saturday’s preliminaries will begin at 10:00 a.m., with finals set to begin at 6:00 p.m., while Sunday’s schedule calls for preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. and finals at 5:00 p.m. 

Sunday’s festivities will include the presentation of the annual David B. Eavenson Award to the outstanding male and female swimmer of the championships.  The conference will also announce its male and female coach and male and female rookie of the year award recipients on Sunday.

Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students and children per session and $8.00 for adults and $3.00 for students and children for an all-day pass.  An all-session pass is $20.00 for adults and $8.00 for students and children.  Tickets can be purchased at the door.