West Chester Men Finish Off 36th PSAC Championship

MEET RESULTS
COMPLETE RESULTS

CARLISLE, PA – West Chester University's men's swim team once again swam its way to the conference title at the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Swimming Championships inside the Keystone Aquatics Center in Carlisle Saturday evening.
 
It marked the third straight team title for the Golden Rams and the 25th in the last 26 years. It was also the 36th overall championship for West Chester, which has dominated the PSAC swimming landscape for a little more than three and a half decades. The Golden Rams have now won every conference championship in which it has entered since 1999. They did not compete in the 2021 conference meet due to COVID-19 restrictions.
 
West Chester amassed 990 points in easily outdistancing second-place Clarion with 572. Bloomsburg was third with 472.5, and Gannon was fourth with 464.5. IUP finished fifth (406.5), Shippensburg sixth (185) and Edinboro seventh (149.5).
 
West Chester took four of the top five spots in the 1650-yard freestyle to open up the final night of competition at the championship meet. Sophomore Paul Demesy (Saint Ulrich, France) successfully defended his title in the mile, posting a time of 15:14.61 that is a new school and PSAC record. Teammate and freshman Daniel Dunigan (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) was second in 15:50.64. Junior Max Bachman (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) placed fourth in 15:54.12 and freshman Jacob Texter (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) was fifth in 16:01.61.
 
The Golden Rams took first, second and seventh in the 100 free. Senior Devin Metzger (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) took the conference crown with a time of 44.57 while classmate Nolan Benner (Greene Lane, Pa./Boyertown) was second in 44.81. Fellow senior Joel Dunnigan (York, Pa./Dallastown) was seventh.
 
In the 200 backstroke, the Golden Rams took first, second and fifth. Ben Desclous (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) was the conference champ this time while setting both a team and PSAC Championship Meet record. He touched out in 1:47.66. Kolos Nagy (Szazhalombatta, Hungary) was runner-up in 1:47.87. Senior Gabe Laslo (Wind Gap, Pa./Nazareth Area) was fifth.
 
Ryan Lee (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill) and Aidan Falkish (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke.
 
The Golden Rams' 400 free relay concluded the PSAC Championship with a first-place effort in 2:58.32 that qualified them for the NCAA Championships and set the conference meet record.
 
West Chester will now wait and see how many swimmers qualify for the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships next month.