Feb. 22, 2008

(Mechanicsburg, Pa.): Clarion's 400 medley relay team of Lori Leitzinger (Sr. State College), Denise Simens (Jr. Hollister, Ca.), Kaitlyn Johnson (Fr. Uniontown) and Gina Mattucci (Fr. Jeannette) won their event and the Golden Eagles moved up to second place on Friday night at the 33rd Annual PSAC Swimming Championships.

Held at Cumberland Valley High School, West Chester holds the lead after Friday's finals with 234 points, compared to Clarion, who is in second with 184 points. Rounding out the top 5 teams are IUP in third with 146, Edinboro fourth with 134 and Shippensburg fifth with 99 points.

The 400 medley relay swam an NCAA D-II Qualifying time of 3:53.67 in posting their win.

Johnson, meanwhile, placed second in the 50 freestyle with an NCAA Qualifying time of 23.87. Also placing were Mattucci who was 6th (24.64) and Jamie Maloney, who was 16th (25.22).

In other events Leitzinger was 5th in the 500 free (5:14.51), teammate Stevie Coble (Sr. Akron) was 5th (5:15.81) and Laura Herron (Fr. Parma, Oh.) was 15th (5:18.84).

In the 200 I.M. Kelly Connolly (Fr. Cranberry Twp.) was third with a time of 2:11.92, while Sari Cattoni (Sr. Lewis Run) was 5th (2:13.22) and Simens was 10th (2:14.16).

The 200 free relay team also finished second on Friday with a time of 1:37.06. The team was comprised of Johnson, Maloney, Mattucci and Connolly.

West Chester is the defending champion and Clarion won the team title in 2006. Clarion has won 26 of the 32 decided PSAC Championships. The PSAC continue on Saturday with 7 individual events decided. If the Golden Eagles are going to make a move, Saturday will be the day to try and narrow the gap.