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Falcons Christen Fredricksen Natatorium In First-Ever Home Meet
Posted: 11/1/2008
Results | More Swimming news
Junior Sara Steinnagel supplied Messiah's lone win Saturday, being a part of two school records as well.

Grantham, PA — One of the area’s oldest and most storied swimming programs served as the first opponent to ever participate in an intercollegiate meet at Messiah’s Fredricksen Natatorium Saturday, as the Falcons hosted Gettysburg College in the school’s first-ever home competition.

Gettysburg (2-0) was making its first appearance of the 2008-2009 season but entered Saturday with slightly more history than Messiah (0-4), boasting its first women’s team in 1974-1975 and its first men’s squad in 1929-1930.

Add to that fact that the Bullets have claimed a combined 38 conference championships over the last 29 years, and it was clear that the first-year Messiah program had a challenge of epic proportions in its own water. While the final scores reflected as much — Gettysburg’s men claimed a 162-81 win and the Bullets’ women a 159-89 tally — it was still a very good day in the short history of Messiah swimming according to head coach Nancy Luley.

“We don’t worry about the score (of these meets) yet,” Luley said. “The score doesn’t always reflect how close a meet was. It just shows who puts their hand on the wall first. Today, we all swam our own race, and that’s what we’re trying to focus on this entire season. You can’t get caught up with things you can’t control. We had swimmers drop a lot of times Saturday, so we’re on track for what we want to be accomplishing.”

While only winning one event on the day (junior Sarah Steinnagel won the women’s 50-yard breaststroke in :33.68), 10 school records were broken, all in front of a packed, raucous crowd. Freshman Ashley Bell set new program marks in the 200 freestyle (2:12.96) and the 100 backstroke (1:05.92), while  sophomore Kelly deRouville claimed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle in a school-record time of :59.77.

New marks were set in three freestyle events for Messiah’s men, as  freshman Zach McArdle finished fourth in the 100 (:51.86), junior Branden Brunner second in the 200 (1:53.97) and junior John Haller third in the 500 (5:27.87). Junior Derek Forster set a new school record in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing fourth by time in a 1:10.56 clip.

Messiah’s relay teams were also exciting, pushing three new school marks overall. The women’s 400 medley (4:25.64) and 200 freestyle (1:49.99) teams made up of Bell, Steinnagel, deRouville and sophomore Kara Geiman set new marks, while the men’s 400 medley relay team of Haller, McArdle, Brunner and junior Anthony Addlesberger recorded a program-best 4:00.54 time.

“ Branden Brunner had a really good afternoon, as did Sarah Steinnagel,” Luley said. “The 200 free was a big race for (Branden). Right now it’s a big focus for us to drop times. I’ve said it before, but some of these kids have been out of the water for years. And for our freshmen to be dropping their best times from high school already is phenomenal. We had great attendance Saturday, great swims and great school spirit. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Messiah will return to the competitive waters Friday, when the team travels to Misericordia University for another dual meet. Start time is set for 7 p.m.