WOMEN’S SWIMMING
YORK — Sophomore Paige Mikesell (Clearfield) was named the Most Outstanding Women’s Swimmer for the 2020 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships after a brilliant performance highlighted by winning four gold medals and breaking two Indiana University of Pennsylvania and two meet records in the Graham Aquatic Center last week.
She met the NCAA Division II A cut time in setting the PSAC record for the 200-yard butterfly with a 1:59.22, after first lowering the mark to 2:00.25 in the preliminaries, and hit the national championships B standard in four other events.
Mikesell, who scored 167 points to lead the Crimson Hawks to a second-place finish, touched first in the 100 fly in 54.09 seconds to break an eight-year-old IUP record and 2:02.08 in the 200 individual medley, both NCAA B cut times.
Her other gold medal came in the 800 relay as she exploded off the blocks for a first leg of 1:49.32, a new PSAC and IUP 200 freestyle standard as well as an NCAA B cut time. Michelle Lopes, Amber Baldwin and Gabrielle Gironda turned that split into a school record 7:33.
Mikesell met the NCAA B cut in the 100 free, her 51.22 effort good for second place.
She picked up additional relay points with a 54.17 third leg for the 400 medley foursome that took second in 3:47.34 and a 51.42 second split for the 400 freestyle team that placed fourth in 3:32.82.
IUP’s 1,138.5 points were topped only by West Chester, which amassed 1,714.5 to win the team crown for the 22nd year in a row.
Mikesell, who was named IUP Female Athlete of the Week for the third time this season on Monday, will swim in the nationals booked for March 11-14 in Geneva, Ohio.
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CANTON, Ohio — Sophomore Sydney Coval (Clearfield) returned to action for Frostburg (Md.) State at the 2020 Great Midwest-Mountain East Conference Championships and swam in four events.
She placed 28th in the 100-yard butterfly preliminaries (1:11.37), 31st in the 1,650 freestyle (22:12.99), 41st in the 500 free prelims (6:18.81) and 44th in the 1,000 free (13:12.14).
The Bobcats, competing at the NCAA Division II level for the first time, placed fifth among the six MEC teams with 347.61 points. Overall, they wound up 10th in the 13-team meet with 244.5 points.
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MEN’S SWIMMING
WEBSTER, N.Y. — Freshman Isaac Swanson (Clearfield) punctuated a remarkable rookie season for Penn State Altoona by sweeping Men’s Swimming of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors after setting five individual school records and contributing to two new relay standards during the four-day 2020 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships conducted in conjunction with the Empire 8 Conference Championships in the Webster Aquatic Center last week.
Then, on Monday, Swanson was named AMCC Swimmer of the Week for the third time this season.
Swanson splashed to AMCC titles in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:41.97 and 200 backstroke in 1:54.6 and touched second in the 100 back in 52.31 seconds.
He also broke the Lions’ 50 free and 100 free marks with 21.82 and 46.83 leadoff splits, respectively, for relay foursomes that set school records, 1:27.59 in the 200 and 3:13.89 in the 400.
The Lions were second in the 200 and third in the 400.
Swanson also led off with the backstroke legs for the medley relay foursomes that placed third. His 24.44 split keyed a 1:33.93 time by the 200 quartet, and his 52.50 helped propel the 400 team to a 3:39.97.
Penn State Altoona finished in the middle of the five-team meet with 363 points.
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YORK — Junior Tate Swanson (Clearfield) set four personal records in preliminary races and garnered points in two relays for Clarion during the 2019-20 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships in the Graham Aquatic Center last week.
He registered times of 21.86 seconds for 18th place in the 50-yard free, 48.87 for 24th in the 100 free, 1:48.72 for 26th in the 200 free and 1:06.69 for 22nd in the 100 breaststroke.
Swanson anchored the Golden Eagle 200 medley foursome to a seventh-place 1:37.50 with a 21.60 split and turned in a 48.07 third leg for the 400 free team that placed fourth in 3:05.38.
Junior Hayden Steiner (Clearfield) joined Swanson on the medley team and turned in a 24.85 butterfly leg.
In the prelims, Steiner lowered his personal record for the 200 fly to 2:01.35 to place 23rd and finished 30th in the 100 free (50.14) and 32nd in the 100 fly (56.08).
Clarion totaled 330.5 points to finish fifth among the seven teams. West Chester racked up 830 points to claim the championship for the 22nd consecutive season.
Swanson won 17 individual races and was on nine victorious relay teams for the Lions, who were 7-2 in dual meets
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MEN’S BASKETBALL
GREENSBURG — Senior Cody Spaid (Clearfield) tallied 10 points and tied his career record with a game-high seven assists for Pitt-Greensburg in a losing cause against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular season champion La Roche last Wednesday.
Four points in the last seven seconds gave the visiting Redhawks a 79-75 win.
The Bobcats (20-5) finished in second place at 16-4 to earn a first-round bye in the AMCC Championship Playoffs. Two games Tuesday night will determine the pairings for Friday’s semifinals on the La Roche hardwood. The title game is set for Saturday.
Spaid is No. 2 in the conference in shooting percentage (62.0) from the floor and No. 6 in both total rebounds (187) and rebounding average (7.5).
He has started every game and leads the Bobcats in rebounds and assists (81). He has totaled 268 points (10.7 ppg) and logged 22 steals and 27 blocks.
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
LATROBE — Freshman Madi Weber (Curwensville) recorded nine points and four rebounds as Saint Vincent defeated Geneva 82-40 and Chatham 97-87 last week to wrap up the Presidents’ Athletic Conference regular season 15-1.
The Bearcats (19-6) will host the PAC Championships Friday and Saturday, with their semifinal opponent pending the outcomes of the quarterfinal games Wednesday night.
In 13 games off the bench, Weber has posted 58 points (4.5 ppg) with 23 rebounds, three assists, five steals and four blocks.
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BASEBALL
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Graduate student Thomas Summers (Clearfield) singled in one of his two pinch-hitting appearances for Rhode Island in a three-game non-conference series against Maryland.
His first hit since the 2017 season came in Friday’s opener, a 9-3 loss.
The Rams (2-4) prevailed, 11-8, Saturday before being shut out in Sunday’s finale, 3-0.
Summers has played in three games and owns a .200 average.
