West Chester Women Out in Front After Day 1 at the PSAC Championships

DAY 1 RESULTS

YORK, PA – Keeley Durkin (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) established a new personal best in the 1000-yard freestyle, and the 800 free relay set a new meet record as West Chester University jumped out in front after the first day of competition at the 2023 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women's Swimming Championships from the Graham Aquatics Center in York, Pa.
 
The Golden Rams took first and second place in both the 1000 free and 50 free, while placing third, fourth and fifth in the 200 individual medley, to finish Day 1 with 401 points. Indiana (Pa.) is second with 190.5 while Bloomsburg is third with 162. Gannon is fourth with 152 points, Clarion is fifth with 148.5, and Edinboro is sixth with 116 points. Millersville is seventh with 113, Shippensburg is eighth with 108, Kutztown is ninth with 93, California (Pa.) is 10th with 64, and East Stroudsburg is 11th with 58.
 
Durkin swam the 1000 in 10 minutes, 10.10.62 seconds, which was seven seconds faster than runner-up Sophia Gerhart (Spring Mills, Pa./Penn Valley Area), who also placed second to Durkin a year ago at the PSAC Championships. Her time of 10:17.80 was also a personal best. Danielle Stewart (Dover, Del./Caesar Rodney) placed fourth in the 1000 free final in 10:25.30, which was a new personal best.
 
Fifth-year senior, Ann Carozza (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) continued her dominance at the conference meet by successfully defending her title in the 50 free with a time of 22.92. Mikayla Niness (Spring City, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) was right behind her in 23.49 seconds to place second behind Carozza for the second straight year. Samantha Trumble was fifth (23.86) in the 'A' Final while Lila DiCarlo (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) won the 'B' Final in 24.24. Skylar Strunk (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) was 17th overall as well.
 
McKenzie Hemingway (Chestertown, Md./Queen Anne's County) led a trio of Golden Rams to the finish line in the 200 IM, placing third overall in 2:04.37. Isabella Kil (Enola, Pa./East Pennsboro) was fourth in 2:05.81 while Lenya Ryan (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant) was fifth in 2:07.30. Hemingway and Ryan set new personal bests in the process.
 
The 800 free relay, consisting of Carozza, Kil, Gerhart and Durkin, touched the wall in 7:24.06 to establish a new PSAC Championship meet record.
 
The second day gets under way Thursday at 10 am with prelims in the 400 IM, 100 butterfly and 200 free. The finals that evening will take place in those three events plus the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay.