WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Lions continued their winning ways in the first day of the 2009 Middle Atlantic Conference Championship meet, as two individuals and one relay team earned first place in their respective events.
To start the afternoon off, Eric Kramer (Watsontown, PA/Warrior Run) took first place in the 500 yard freestyle event with a season best time of 4:47.84. That victory marked the second consecutive year that Kramer has won the event at the MAC Championships. Last season Kramer won the event with a final time of 4:43.13.
Also competing in the 500 alongside Kramer were Zach McElheny (Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown) who finished in second place (4:51.59), Kyle Torrens (West Chester, PA/West Chester East) who finished in fourth place (4:58.01), Ryan McGroarty (Media, PA/Penncrest) who finished in sixth place (5:00.51), and Scott Mermelstein (Elkins Park, PA/Abington Senior) who closed out the event in 16th place (5:21.16).
In the very next individual event, the 200 yard IM, Chris Sheerer (Leola, PA/Conestoga Valley) proved dominant yet again in probably one of his closest heats of the year. The sophomore swimmer set a new pool and conference record in the event with a final time of 1:55.38 which was a mere .14 seconds ahead of Widener University's Joe Deighan who finished in second place.
Sheerer's time was also a career best mark for the sophomore. The win marked the second consecutive year that Sheerer has won the 200 IM at the MAC Championships.
Matt O'Neill (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) was also a part of the 200 IM as the sophomore swimmer earned a final time of 2:06.63 which was good enough for ninth place overall. From there the Lions Jack Kubacki (Reading, PA/Antietam) finished in second place in the 50 yard freestyle with a final mark of 22.18 seconds.
Jordan Hash (Shrewsbury, PA/Susquehanock), John Ferrara (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest), and Sean Zajdel (Yardley, PA/Pennsburg) also competed in the 50. Hash earned a final time of 22.46 seconds (9th place) while Ferrara and Zajdel closed out the event for the Red and White with final times of 23.02 and 23.03 respectively.
The final event would belong to the Lions as the 400 yard medley relay team of Sheerer, Hash, O'Neill, and Kramer recorded the top finish with a time of 3:34.04, which was nearly two seconds ahead of Misericordia's top relay team.
The Lions will look to add some wins to their belt this afternoon in day two of the conference championships. To view the results of this afternoon's meet as it happen fans can go to http://www.arcadia.edu/athletics/default.aspx?id=22140.
