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Messiah Men Handle Elizabethtown, Women Fall In Tight Affair
Posted: 11/11/2009
Results | More Swimming news
Freshman Dylan Holford led a trio of school records set on the men's side Wednesday night.

Grantham, PA — Elizabethtown College.

Just the mention of the the name to Messiah College student-athletes and one garners immediate attention.

Elizabethtown – Messiah’s greatest rival across the board – came to Frederickson Natatorium Wednesday night. The dual meet featured the second-ever duel between the rival schools in intercollegiate swimming after Messiah’s inception to the sport just a year ago.

On Wednesday night, the Falcon men dominated the Blue Jays, 138-63, while the women were involved in a closer affair, but fell, 118-85.

With the decisions, the home navy-and-white move to 1-2 on the men’s side while the women dropped to 0-3 overall. Elizabethtown suffered their first defeat for the men, moving to 1-1, while the undefeated women’s side moved to 2-0.

“I’m definitely pleased with tonight’s results,” said Nancy Luley. Messiah head coach. “We are doing well and moving in the right direction – not only individually, but as a program.”

Messiah wasted no time getting things moving in the right direction as the first two events – the 200-yard medley relays – both went the way of the Falcons. Sophomore Ashley Bell and freshmen Angela Klaczak,Molly Handley and Aimee West finished first with a time of 2:01.98. The men’s side of seniors John Haller, Derek Forster and Brandon Brunner and freshman Tim Alarcon paced the way in 1:46.04.

It wasn’t until the sixth event – the men’s 200-yard freestyle – that the Falcons got back into their winning ways. Freshman Dylan Holford got the crowd roaring with a pool – and school – record of 1:48.03. Classmate Drew Wissler finished second with a 1:54.56 to provide Messiah with a solid one-two finish.

From that point on, it was Messiah dominance as the men’s squad took home first in five of the next six events.

Bell won the 50-yard freestyle in :26.95, just .12 seconds off the school record. Haller and sophomore Zach McArdle went one-two in the 50-yard freestyle with times of :23.07 and :23.40, respectively.

West turned in a 2:29.39 to win the women’s 200-yard individual medley before the Falcons went 1-2-3 in the men’s 200-yard individual medley. Alarcon, freshman Malcolm McDermond and Forster led the way, with Alarcon winning in 2:11.43.

Not to be outdone by Holford’s pool and school record, Wissler churned the water in the 100-yard butterfly, winning by more than four seconds – and shattering the school record - in :53.76.

“That was a tremendous swim by Drew – especially this early in the season,” Luley said of Wissler’s 100-yard butterfly. “He has been solid for us and I’m anxious to see his continued growth.”

The third record of the evening came compliments of Haller – a school record 58.04 in the 100-yard backstroke.

Mixing in a couple other victories – McArdle’s 100-yard freestyle (:51.71), Holford’s 500-yard freestyle (5:00.69), Klaczak and West going one-two in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke (1:16 and 1:17.75, respectively), as well as Forster, McDermond and Brunner finishing one-two-three in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.26, 1:09.46, 1:10.77) and the men’s 400-yard freestyle winning relay team of Holford, McArdle, senior Anthony Addlelsberger and Wissler in 3:28.11 – the Falcons showed their continued growth in the pool.

“We are seeing some tremendous growth as a team,” Luley said. “Most of the freshman have never trained this hard before. They are starting to see the fruits of their hard work and that is a lot of fun for everyone involved.”

Looking ahead to Saturday as Messiah hits the road to Penn State University-Altoona, Luley said she is excited to get back in the pool.

“We still had a few swimmers out battling the flu but by the time Saturday rolls around, hopefully we’ll be back full throttle – finally,” she said.

Saturday’s meet time is slated for 1 p.m.