EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Freshman John Lytle of Clearfield swam his way into the University of Notre Dame record book six times and earned all-conference honors in five events during the 2007 BIG EAST Men\’s Swimming and Diving Championships that ended Saturday night in the Nassau County Aquatic Center.
During the four-day meet, Lytle broke the school\’s 200-yard freestyle mark twice, first with 1:38:35 leading off the 800 free relay on Wednesday and then with a 1:38.06 that was good for second place in the individual event Friday. West Virginia\’s Zoltan Povazsai, a 6-8 freshman from Hungary who was named BIG EAST Swimmer of the Year, won that race in 1:36.47.
On Saturday, Lytle lowered the Notre Dame record for the 100 free to 44.76 in the preliminaries. He went 44.97 in the finals to place fourth and just miss a sixth All-BIG EAST award.
Lytle was a member of four All-BIG EAST relay teams, the 200 and 800 freestyle foursomes finishing second and the 400 free and 400 medley quartets placing third. All but the 200 free team set new Notre Dame records.
His record-setting 200 leg set the tone for the second-place 800 relay team that posted an NCAA consideration time of 6:32.67, nearly three seconds faster than the previous school record. Ted Brown, Andrew Hoffman and Jeff Wood were the other swimmers.
On Thursday, Lytle had a personal best 20.70 in the leadoff leg as he teamed with Hoffman, Tim Kegelman and Louis Cavadini for a season-best 1:21.35 in the 200 free relay, good for second place again.
Friday\’s relay was the 400 medley, which Lytle anchored with a 44.50 leg. The Irish quartet gained NCAA consideration with its school record of 3:16.90.
Lytle was first off the blocks for the 400 relay team Saturday night, and his 45.15 was the foundation for a school record 2:59.59. Brown, Kegelman and Cavadini swam the other legs.
In his other individual event, the 50 free, Lytle was 12th.
The conference championship came down to the final race, the 400 free relay. Notre Dame, bidding for its third consecutive BIG EAST title, led West Virginia by 3.5 points, but the Mountaineers won the event in 2:56.21 to gain 40 points and edge the Irish 765.5 to 761. Second place in the relay was worth 32 points for the Irish. WVU won 14 of the 16 events.
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LANCASTER, Pa. — Freshman Cassie Mulhollem of Clearfield was one of the Franklin & Marshall swimmers who teamed for gold medal relay performances in the first and last events of the 2007 Centennial Conference Women\’s Championships which ended Sunday.
Mulhollem turned in a 54.65-second leg for the host Diplomats\’ 400-yard freestyle quartet that ended the three-day, eight-team meet with a bang by eclipsing the school, conference and championship meet records with a 3:36.58. Seniors Jenna Walters and Kelly Landman and sophomore Brittany McCabe were the others on the team that lowered the standard of 3:37.11 set by F&M\’s 2005 foursome that included Walters and Landman.
In the first event of the meet, Mulhollem anchored the Diplomats\’ 200 free relay team that was victorious in an NCAA B cut time of 1:38.17. She followed the efforts of Walters, McCabe and Lisa Hertz with a split time of 24.56.
Mulhollem, McCabe, Landman and Jennie Payne walked away with the 200 medley relay silver medals after a 1:51.65 effort that was bested only by Swarthmore\’s 1:51.51. Mulhollem\’s time for the final 50 was 25 seconds.
She also swam the anchor leg in 54.54 for the \’B\’ 400 medley relay team that won the B Final to earn ninth place points for the Diplomats.
In individual events, Mulhollem placed fifth in the 50 free in 25.44 and seventh in the 100 free in 55.09.
Walters was named the Outstanding Performer after posting NCAA B cut times in winning the 200, 500 and 1,650 freestyle races and contributing to victories by the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams.
Franklin & Marshall was runner-up with 659 points. Gettysburg won the title with 759 points.
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KENT, Ohio — Sophomore Rebecca Shiner of Clearfield helped the Westminster College 1,600-meter foursome set a school record at the Kent State Tune-Up Invitational Saturday.
Shiner teamed with classmate Kristen Van Sickel and freshmen Abbey Basta and Alicia Crum for a 4:13.75, good for 10th place among 19 entries.
Shiner also placed seventh in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:24.16.
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WEST POINT, N.Y. — Brard Canterbury avenged a previous loss to Army 141-pounder Matt Kyler as Navy, ranked No. 17 in the nation by InterMat Wrestling, continued its domination of the service academy series with a 29-6 victory in a Star Match that drew 1,379 fans into Christl Arena Sunday.
A takedown with 45 seconds left gave Canterbury a 3-1 decision. The 2003 PIAA Class AAA runner-up for Wissahickon escaped in the middle period, but Kyler tied the bout with a breakaway 10 seconds in the third period.
Kyler, who was a PIAA Class AAA champion in 2005, edged Canterbury 8-6 in the All-Academy title bout on Feb. 3.
Kyler ended the dual meet season 9-6 with a 28-9 overall record. He led the Cadets in wins as well as major decisions (10) and bonus point wins (16).
Army finished 10-6, including 6-3 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.
Navy, undefeated in seven EIWA matches and 11-4 for the season, had beaten Army seven times in a row for a 40-5-5 series advantage. Since 1963, the Midshipmen own a 38-1-5 advantage.
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PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Former Clearfield Area High School wrestler Kyle Keane of Bradford recorded a fall as the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division II, defeated Division I foe Davidson (N.C.) College 34-10 Saturday at Duquesne University.
Keane pinned Trebor Clavette in 4:16, his fifth fall of the season. The redshirt freshman has a 7-2 record in dual meets and is 13-5 overall.
The Mountain Cats, coming off an 18-18 tie against 12th-ranked Mercyhurst College at Erie Friday night, also beat Duquesne 29-6 for a 4-4 record against Division I teams. The Mountain Cats finished the regular season 21-5-1.
