Women's Swimming Championship Preview

Posted: Feb 15, 2023

The 29th annual Centennial Conference women's swimming championship begins Thursday night at Gettysburg's Bullets Pool in Gettysburg, Pa. The four-day event opens with the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay on Thursday night at 7 p.m., with action continuing through Sunday. The Friday through Sunday schedule will feature prelims at 10 a.m. each morning followed by final at 6 p.m. inside Bullets Pool.

Defending champion Swarthmore enters as the prohibitive favorite after a second consecutive unblemished Centennial dual season (7-0). The Garnet stormed through the CC regular season in impressive fashion, as all seven dual wins were by more than 120 points. Swarthmore is currently ranked 15th in the most recent College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll, while Gettysburg is receiving votes. Gettysburg posted a 6-1 mark in CC dual competition, while F&M (5-2) and Ursinus (4-3) also secured winning records.

Historically, Gettysburg owns more CC titles (15) than all of the other teams combined. Ursinus (6), F&M (3) and Swarthmore (3) each have multiple conference crowns since the inaugural Centennial championship in 1994.

Seven individual champions spanning nine different events return to this weekend's championship, including three that have won multiple events. Ursinus' Missy Leonard, the 2022 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer, is the returning champion in three freestyle events (200, 500 & 1650). Swarthmore's Sophie Rotival will look to defend her titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Rotival set a new CC meet record in the 100 breaststroke last winter. Annaliese Chen is also a multi-event returning champion for Garnet in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly.

Other swimmers with gold medals to their name competing this weekend include Swarthmore's Ashley Wong (100 fly), Erin Szuromi (100 back) and Annabella Boardman (100 breaststroke in 2020), along with Gettysburg's Elissa Clancy (200 fly in 2020). The 100 breaststroke and 200 butterfly events are ones to keep an eye on with multiple returning champions on those events.

Rotival is the lone swimmer that holds a championship meet record (100 breaststroke), but teammates Annabella Boardman (100 breaststroke) and Quinn Weygandt hold overall Centennial records. Boardman set a new CC standard in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.30) back in November of 2021, while Weygandt was the only swimmer to break a CC record during the 2022-23 season in the 400 IM (4:29.19) on Nov. 5, 2022.