LANCASTER, Pa. – Defending champion Swarthmore was selected as the favorite to repeat in the Centennial Conference Men's Swimming Preseason Poll. In the annual vote among the conference head coaches, the Garnet nabbed five first-place votes and tallied 34 points to take top billing. 

Gettysburg collected the other two first-place votes to finish second in the poll with 30, narrowly edging out Franklin & Marshall (29). Ursinus (20), Washington College (16), Dickinson (12) and McDaniel (6) rounded out the poll placings in fourth through seventh, respectively.

The 2022-23 campaign begins this Saturday, Oct 22 with all seven teams competing in Centennial meets. The Centennial Conference Championship will take place Feb. 16-19 at Gettysburg, while the NCAA Championships are set for March 15-18 in Greensboro, N.C. 

2022-23 Schedule | 2022 Championship Results | 2022 All-Centennial Team | Record Book | All-Time Top 10

Swarthmore re-claimed its place atop Centennial Conference men's swimming last winter, winning its third conference title in five years with a 73-point triumph over Franklin & Marshall. 

Andrew Karpenko led the way for the Garnet, nabbing both Most Outstanding Performer and Most Outstanding Rookie honors in his first CC championship meet. Karpenko became just the third men's swimmer in CC history to win both major awards in the same season. The Garnet standout won all three of his individual events (200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke) in impressive fashion, breaking conference, championship meet and pool records in each event. He then went on to compete at the NCAA Championships, earning a trio of All-America honors (100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 200 IM). Karpenko owns the Centennial records in each of those three events. 

Another returner claiming All-America honors at the 2022 NCAA Championships was F&M's John Devaney, who contributed to All-America relays in the 200 and 400 freestyles. 

Karpenko and Devaney are two of 16 All-Centennial swimmers ready to dive back into the pool this winter. A quartet of those honorees have received all-conference medals at multiple CC championships - Swarthmore's Ben Freeman, who was also the 2020 Most Outstanding Rookie, F&M's Matt Hopkins and Willem Stoll, and Gettysburg's Nick Cox. 

Swarthmore welcomes back a conference-leading six All-CC performers - Karpenko, Freeman, AJ Das, Ethan Marotte, Mats McGrath and Ben Wesley. 

F&M returns five all-stars - Devaney, Hopkins, Stoll, Matt Hurford and Cameron Mehta. 

Cox and Luke McKenna are returning All-CC swimmers for Gettysburg, Ryan Carkhuff and Jonah Kasznay are back for Ursinus, and Washington College's Gage Mandrell is the lone all-star returning for the Shoremen. 

2022-23 Centennial Conference Men's Swimming Preseason Poll