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School Records Abound In Second-Ever Season Opener With G'Burg
Posted: 10/31/2009
Results | More Swimming news
Messiah's 2009-2010 home opener drew a large crowd of supporters at Fredricksen Natatorium, led by the Falcons' non-competing swimmers.

Grantham, PA — With the inaugural season of intercollegiate swimming at Messiah College in the past, second-year Messiah head coach Nancy Luley eagerly anticipated the second year at the helm of the program that she has helped build from scratch.

As Messiah entered the pool on Saturday afternoon, Luley had high hopes that her swimmers would be ready to respond.

If only she had swimmers to dip into the pool.

Facing a roster that was depleted by sickness that is sweeping its way across many college campuses, Messiah competed, albeit short-handed, in a match-up against Gettysburg College.

Despite re-writing many records in the men’s record book, Luley’s men’s squad dropped a 190-66 decision to the visiting Bullets while the women’s team lost by a 159-100 score.

“There were certainly some positives to come out of this meet,” stated Luley. “On the men’s side, we had some tremendous individual performances, led by (freshman) Dylan Holford. (Senior) Steph Jury was very solid in her events, as well.”

Luley wasn’t kidding about Holford, swimming in his first collegiate event. All that Holford did was win the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle — the first time he swam the 1,000-yard distance —with times of 4:59.28 and 10:19.17, respectively. Holford was also part of the 200-meter freestyle team which broke the pool record, with teammates John Haller (senior), Zachary McArdle (sophomore) and anchorman Drew Wissler (freshman).

Wissler carried his weight in the pool by setting a pool and school record in the 50-yard freestyle (:21.95) and setting a school record in the 100 -ard freestyle (:49.62), narrowly missing the pool record by first-place finisher from Gettysburg, Matt Libby (:49.48).

Jury, a senior who is only in her second year of competitive swimming, set a school record of 12:51.73 in the 1,000-yard freestyle.

“On our men’s side, our future certainly looks bright while the women’s side still is a little thin,” Luley said. “However, overall I am pleased with our results considering only five of our 34 swimmers have not missed time the past few weeks due to sickness.”

Messiah will get back into the pool — and hopefully over any illnesses — as they prepare to host Misericordia University next Saturday. Start time is set for 6 p.m.