It's been nearly a year since the Edinboro swimming programs had a chance to compete as a team. This changed on Saturday morning when the Fighting Scots hosted a meet against a familiar PSAC opponent in Clarion.
Both programs competed hard, but both came up short in their first meet of the 2020-2021 season. The men fell to the Golden Eagles by a 107-90 final team score, while the women's team lost 116-83.
On the women's side,
Leia Ross was the winner of the women's 200-yard freestyle race, marking her first win as a collegiate swimmer. Edinboro's
Makayla Scheu started her 2020-2021 on a positive note by winning the women's 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle races. Teammate
Stephanie Sipple was victorious in the women's 100-yard butterfly with a 1:01.27 time, marking her first college victory.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of
Nicole Kadlecik, Maddy Cordial,
Kendall Peregrini, and
Paige Smith picked up the victory with a time of 146:40 to round out action on the women's side.
In the men's 200-yard medley relay, the team of
Michael Kocher,
Kevin Morgan,
Cole Dorobish and
Ted Kinney were able to place first with a time of 1:44.26. The Fighting Scots also were able to win the men's 200-yard freestyle relay, and the team of
Luke Edmonds,
Jacob Neal,
Kevin Morgan, and
Richard Certuche was able to bring that one home for Edinboro.
In individual races,
Luke Edmonds was victorious in the men's 100-yard freestyle, winning the race with a time of 49.74. Teammate Gerardo Ruiz was the men's 100-yard backstroke winner with a time of 55.05.
Richard Certuche won gold in the men's 100-yard breaststroke with a final time of 1:06.66.
"I was extremely happy with how we raced," said
Chris Rhodes, head coach of Edinboro swimming. "They have been doing a tremendous job training and for them to do as well as they did today shows that. Today was a challenge and gave us a great starting point for the season. We definitely have a lot to work on, but for two weeks of training, I couldn't be more proud of the team."
As of now, this will be Edinboro's only in-person and home meet of the 2020-2021 school year. This season, the Fighting Scots and other PSAC member institutions will be competing in a virtual series of meets. In total, the Fighting Scots have 10 such meets on their schedule, but is subject to change.
Their first virtual series contest will take place on Saturday, March 6 at a time yet to be determined. Updates to the schedule can be tracked on the Edinboro Athletics website.
