GROVE CITY, Pa. (Feb. 10) – The Saint Vincent women's swimming team had a big opening night at the 2022 Presidents' Athletic Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by Grove City College.
The Bearcats closed out the first day of the three-day competition in second place in the team standings, with 234 points. In the five swimming finals held on opening night, Saint Vincent earned three first-place finishes.
In the first final of the evening, the SVC foursome of Erica Steele, Lauren Connors, Cara Luallen and Katie Kozy teamed up to take first in 200 freestyle relay in a school-record time of 1:35.56, winning by just over a half-second.
A second SVC foursome, comprised of Abby Leskovansky, Sarah Alexander, Lauren Krecota and Callysta Fontanazza placed 10th overall, and second in the 'B' final, in a time of 1:42.14, earning the Bearcats 14 points.
Connors continued her dominant junior season by winning the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:12.94, three seconds ahead of second place. Connors led a contingent of three SVC swimmers to score in the event, with Madison Cassidy taking sixth (2:19.38) and Sara Basala 10th (2:22.32).
The Bearcats' most impressive performance on the evening came in the 50 freestyle, with Saint Vincent swimmers occupying four of the top six places. Steele won her first PAC championship in a time of 24.21 seconds, just ahead of Luallen, who placed second in 24.29 seconds. Kozy placed fifth in 24.72 seconds, while Leskovansky took sixth in 24.75 seconds. Fontanazza placed second in the 'B' final, and 10th overall, in 25.30 seconds.
Saint Vincent went on to score big in the final event of the night, with the quartet of Connors, Cassidy, Kozy and Steele turning in a time of 4:00.37. The Bearcats' second relay squad of Leskovansky, Basala, Fontanazza and Luallen placed 10th in 4:07.78.
Following her performance in the 200 free relay, Alexander led SVC in the 500 freestyle final with a time of 5:24.78 to take fourth place.
Host Grove City holds the team lead after day one with 329.5 points, followed by SVC (234.5), Westminster (189.5), Chatham (115), Washington & Jefferson )104), Franciscan (98.5) and Bethany (3).
The second day of the PAC Championships gets underway with prelims at 11 a.m. on Friday. Events contested on day two include the 400 individual medley, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast and the 100 back.
