WCU men, women sprint to Day 1 lead at PSACs

Victor Polyakov and West Chester Henderson product Thomas McCormick each brought home conference titles as West Chester University’s men’s swimming squad jumped out to a lead after the first day of competition at the PSAC Championships at the York YMCA Thursday.

West Chester amassed 224 points after four events, outdistancing second-place Bloomsburg, which posted 189 points. Clarion is third with 79 while Indiana (Pa.) is fourth with 58. Gannon, Shippensburg and Edinboro round out the field.

Polyakov swam his way to a 12th individual crown, taking first place in the 1000-yard freestyle with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 9 minutes, 17.08 seconds. The Golden Rams dominated the event, putting five swimmers in the top eight. Trey Shackleton, who swam a time trial in the morning to qualify for the finals Thursday night, was runner-up with a ‘B’ time of 9:19.98. Geoff Boodey placed third (9:28.80) and Timmy Tomsuden was fifth (9:36.13). Boodey’s time was a ‘B’ cut time for the NCAAs as well. Dylan North placed seventh (9:38.39). is in fifth place with 151 points, and Indiana (Pa.) is sixth with 118.

Wright, a freshman, won her first conference title with a winning time of 9:54.86 that broke the PSAC record held by senior teammate Tess Hayward by four seconds. It also marked an NCAA automatic qualifying time, meaning Wright is headed to nationals next month. Hayward was right behind Wright with a time of 10:09.55 that was a ‘B’ time for that event. Lovisa Nyman-Persson was third in 10:16.27. Taylor Hoover placed eighth in 10:27.91.

Freshman and Downingtown West grad Meghan Keithly turned in an NCAA ‘B’ time by winning the 50 free in 23.46 seconds. Mikaela Lantz was second with a ‘B’ time of 23.50.