WOMEN’S SWIMMING
CALIFORNIA — Junior backstroke specialist Krystal Wriglesworth (Clearfield) has racked up points in both individual and relay races as California University of Pennsylvania has jumped out to a 3-1 start on the first two weeks of the season.
She was first in both the 100 back in 1:04.25 and 200 back in 2:21.09 when the Vulcans swept host Notre Dame (Ohio) 189-61 and Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit 131-126 on Oct. 24.
She also led off with a 30.41-second split for the Vulcan ‘A’ 200 medley team that was first against Notre Dame and second against Wheeling Jesuit in 1:55.24 and had a 1:02.20 second leg for the ‘B’ 400 freestyle quartet that was second against Notre Dame and third against Wheeling Jesuit in 4:055.54.
Friday night at Fairmont (W.Va.) State, Wriglesworth swam the second leg in 1:00.53 for the Vulcan ‘A’ 400 freestyle quartet that was victorious in 3:53.84 against both the hosts in a 116-63 victory and Shippensburg in a 118-70 setback.
She led off with a 1:05.45 backstroke split to send the Vulcan ‘A’ 400 medley team on its way to a win in 4:11.50 against Fairmont State and a second against Shippensburg.
A 1:06.17 trip in the 100 back was good for second against Fairmont and third against Shippensburg.
* * * * *
EDINBORO — Sophomore Kara Thorp (Clearfield) helped two relay teams earned first-place points as Edinboro piled up 113 points to top five other teams in the Westminster Relays at New Wilmington Oct. 23.
She turned in a 2:04.64 split on the second leg of the 800 freestyle race, with the Fighting Scot foursome prevailing in 8:13.77, and a 5:41.63 anchor leg to give Edinboro a 16:37.74 time in the 3×500 event.
Thorp placed fifth in the 1,000 free in 11:49.53 and sixth in the 500 free in 5:57.35 and also had a 27.04 third split for the 200 free relay team that placed second in 1:16.92 when the Fighting Scots dropped their dual meet opener to visiting Indiana University of Pennsylvania 116-88 on Oct. 16.
Thorp finished strong in her rookie season, recording personal bests of 55.64 in the 100 free, 1:58.74 in the 200 free, 5:19.40 in the 500 free and 10:56.47 in the 1,000 free at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
* * * * * * * * * *
MEN’S SWIMMING
NEW WILMINGTON — Freshman Michael Spencer (Clearfield) got off to a great start for Westminster by winning two individual races and having a key role in four relay victories in the Titans’ first three outings last month.
In the season-opening Westminster Relays Oct. 23, Spencer anchored the 3×100 butterfly trio with a 52.77-second split to stop the clock at 2:44.24 as well as the 200 freestyle quartet with a 21.15 split, the fastest of the race, to touch in 1:29.23.
He also had a 49.25 leadoff leg for the 400 free foursome that placed third in 3:20.18.
Westminster won the five-team meet with 112 points.
The following day, the Titans traveled to Erie and defeated Penn State Behrend 170-123, and Spencer came through with a win in the 50 free in 22.06 and a second in the 100 fly in 54.97 after anchoring the 200 medley team to victory in 1:37.76 with a 21.60 finish.
On Saturday, Spencer won the 100 backstroke in 58.01 and swam the fly leg for the 200 medley quartet that was victorious in 1:56.67 as the Titans defeated host Bethany (W.Va.) 142-118.
Had the Titans needed the points, he would been a quadruple winner but swam exhibition in the 100 fly (54.90) and with the 400 free relay team (3:17.66).
* * * * *
EDINBORO — Freshman Alex Shugarts (Clearfield) contributed to a pair of seconds by Edinboro foursomes at the Westminster Relays in New Wilmington on Oct. 13.
He turned in a 1:22.25 split for the 150-yard third leg of the crescendo freestyle event that saw the Fighting Scots post a 4:22.26 time and followed up with a 22.67-second third leg for the 200 freestyle quartet that had a 1:29.56 clocking.
The Fighting Scots wound up with 102 points, second to Westminster’s 112 in the five-team meet.
In the season-opening 132-69 loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania a week earlier, Shugarts swam a 22.37 third leg for the 200 free team that recorded Edinboro’s lone win with a 1:29.26 time.
He also placed fifth in two individual events with a 50.43 effort in the 100 free and a 1:53.64 in the 200 free.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FOOTBALL
EDINBORO — Redshirt senior defensive back Derek Morgan (Clearfield) made three solo tackles, assisted on another and broke up two passes as No. 13-ranked Slippery Rock kept its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title hopes alive by routing Edinboro 52-10 in front of 2,863 fans at Sox Harrison Stadium Saturday.
Morgan, who started at free safety, recorded all of his stats in the first half, when The Rock defense surrendered only one first down while the offense was rolling to a 31-10 lead.
He has made six starts, including five at strong safety, in seven appearances with 15 solo stops, nine assists, one interception and five pass break-ups.
Slippery Rock is 8-1 and co-leader in the PSAC-West with Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 5-1.
* * * * *
CLARION — After being one of 19 seniors recognized in pre-game ceremonies, Clarion longsnapper Eric White (Clearfield) registered his first tackle assist of the season on one of the No. 29-ranked Golden Eagles’ eight punts in Saturday’s 28-14 loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
A crowd of 3,400 at Memorial Stadium saw the Crimson Hawks dim the Golden Eagles’ Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title hopes after trailing 14-13 at halftime.
Clarion, 7-2 overall, fell to 4-2 and one game behind IUP and Slippery Rock, both 5-1, but still has a chance to make it a three-way tie by beating The Rock Saturday if Gannon upsets IUP.
* * * * *
CANTON, N.Y. — Freshman kicker Spencer Herrington (Clearfield) made his first appearance for Worcester Polytechnic Institute and averaged 32.3 yards on six punts for the Engineers in a 42-21 loss to Liberty League frontrunner St. Lawrence in front of 800 fans at Leckonby Stadium Saturday.
Herrington‘s longest boot was 49 yards on the cool, windy afternoon.
The Engineers are 5-3 with a 2-3 league record.
* * * * * * * * * *
WRESTLING
CLARION — Redshirt junior Jake Keller (Curwensville) was one of Clarion’s top performers at the Clarion Open in the Clarion Rec Center Sunday, placing fourth at 149 pounds with a 4-2 record.
He advanced to the semifinals by pinning Jake Willochell of Seton Hill at 4:28 and edging Kyle Hammond of Lock Haven 3-2 and Robert Janis of Notre Dame (Ohio) College 4-2.
Following a 12-2 loss to eventual runner-up Nick Montgomery of Cleveland State, Keller shut out Patrick Duggan of West Virginia 5-0 to reach the third-place match, where he was beaten 6-1 by Isaac Dulgarian of Notre Dame College.
Keller transferred to Clarion after wrestling three seasons at Pitt and compiling a 25-22 record in open tournaments while losing both of his dual meet appearances.
The Golden Eagles fared very well in the 20-team season-opening tourney with former District 9 standouts Brock Zacherl (Brookville) and Evan Delong (Kane) winning titles at 141 and 165, respectively, and Evan Daley (Fort LeBoeuf) also finishing fourth at heavyweight.
* * * * *
CLARION — Penn State DuBois freshman Jake Lancaster (Curwensville) was victorious in one of his three matches at the Clarion Open in the Clarion Rec Center Sunday.
The 141-pounder pinned Lane Dickerson of Notre Dame (Ohio) College in 39 seconds and then lost 11-2 to George Weber of Notre Dame College and was pinned at 4:16 by Delawrence White of Old Dominion.
* * * * * * * * * *
WOMEN’S SOCCER
BLOOMSBURG — Sophomore Carlee Freeburg (Clearfield) did not start but played 50 minutes for Clarion in its season finale, a 1-0 loss to Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action at Steph Pettit Stadium Saturday.
Freeburg made 14 starts at forward or defense and played 1,046 minutes with three shots, one on goal, in 18 games for the Golden Eagles, who finished 4-11-1 for 11th place in the PSAC and 5-12-1 overall, the program’s best record since 2007.
In 31 career games, Freeburg has registered eight shots, with two on goal.
* * * * *
NEW WILMINGTON — Former Clearfield Area High School players McKenna Aleksivich, Katie Powers and Tessa Munshower appeared in Penn State Behrend’s 6-0 non-conference victory over Westminster Thursday night.
The Lions (11-7) were 7-2 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and will host Penn State Altoona in the championship semifinals Wednesday.
For the season, freshman forward Munshower has recorded one goal, one assist and nine shots with three on goal in 14 games, sophomore midfielder/defender Aleksivich has one goal and five shots with three on goal in 11 games and sophomore defender Powers has one assist and one shot on goal in 12 games.