The women’s swimming team finished off the competition last Sunday, as they swam away to their fourth straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship, and fifth in the last six years.The women made it look easy, as they once again crushed the other 12 teams like it was college swimmers against high school swimmers. In the end, West Chester finished with 756 points, almost 300 ahead of Clarion in second place. Shippensburg rounded out the top three.
Jackie Borkowski was named the PSAC swimmer of the meet for the weekend. It is her second straight year earning that title, ending her PSAC career on a high note.
In the final day of swimming, she swam a leg of the championship 400 relay team, and grabbed an individual title in the 50-yard freestyle. Borkowski won three individual PSAC championships and three relay races in the weekend. She is a 16-time all American.
Erin Fischer and Leah Varvaro teamed up to sweep the top two spots in the 200 butterfly Sunday, and Danielle Ierley won the 1650 free, with Kristen Montello finishing third. The 400 free relay was West Chester’s form of a victory lap, as they already had the championship won, but took the crown in celebration, making it all that much sweeter.
This may be the best senior class of Lady Ram swimmers to ever come through the system. They are the only class to have a PSAC championship in all four of their years as a West Chester Golden Ram swimmer. While the men may have a dynasty going at twelve in a row, four consecutive PSAC crowns sure ain’t too shabby.
Now the women will take the next couple of weeks to train before heading off to nationals the second weekend of March. Many of the swimmers on the team have qualified for that event.
Ryan Frisco is a third-year student majoring in Communication studies. He can be reached at RF648257@wcupa.edu.