Gettysburg College put on a show this past weekend. Women’s basketball earned its first conference title and will compete in the NCAA D-III Tournament; led by stellar individual performances, men’s and women’s swimming swept Centennial Conference (CC) competition; and wrestler Zach Thomson ’15 became the first Bullet to win a title at 174 pounds since 2000.

Women’s basketball

After decades of coming so close to winning a conference title, the Gettysburg College women's basketball team laid claim to its first on Saturday as the Bullets knocked off Swarthmore College 48-46 in the Centennial Conference Championship game inside Bream Gym.
 
Gettysburg (21-6) also received the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Tournament. It will be the fifth time in program history the Bullets have made the national playoff field and first since 2009-10. The NCAA will release the brackets on Monday with the opening rounds taking place March 1-2.

Caroline Murphy ’14 scored 15 of her game-high 19 points in the final quarter to help spark the Bullets to the victory. Jessica Porter ’16 added 11 points, while Jenna Swope '15 grabbed 11 rebounds.
 
The Bullets won the Middle Atlantic Conference Southern Division title in 1985, but finished runner-up for the MAC overall title. Gettysburg finished runner-up for the Centennial Conference title in 2008. Read more

Men’s Swimming

The men’s swimming team hoisted the Centennial Conference trophy for the third straight year Sunday evening at Franklin & Marshall’s Kunkel Aquatic Center. For the meet, the men’s team finished with 10 NCAA B-cuts, three school records, three Centennial Conference records, and three CC championship meet records.

On Sunday, the team was led by Mike Harmon ’15, Jason Potter ’15, and Ashton Leyens ’15, who posted one B-cut apiece. Harmon won the 200-backstroke, while Potter claimed the 100-freestyle. It was the third individual B-cut of the meet for both swimmers. Leyens also took second in the 100-freestyle, earning a second B-cut of the championship.

The three would also team up with Stu Cubbison ’15 to give the Bullets their second championship, Centennial Conference record, CC meet record, and B-cut of the meet in the relays, as the foursome clocked a 3:01.97 in the 400-freestyle relay while also establishing a pool record. Read more

Women’s Swimming

The women’s swimming team also captured the three-peat by closing out a dramatic finish inside the Kunkle Aquatic Center.

The meet came down to the final event on the women’s side. Gettysburg trailed Ursinus by 12 points after Day One and by 11 points after the second day. It was a nip-and-tuck final six events on Sunday, with the lead changing hands three times and the Bullets leading by just 13 points prior to the meet’s final event, the 400-freestyle relay. But Gettysburg held off Ursinus by winning a scintillating “B” final and taking fourth in the “A” final to win the meet by seven points (633-626).

Cooper Kearns ’15 paced the women’s team, capturing an NCAA B-cut while taking the silver in the 1,650-freestyle (17:19.25).

Meanwhile, Lea Candelmo ’16, who took the bronze in the 1,650, earned the Centennial Conference Women's Outstanding Rookie award; she also won the 500-freestyle and 400-IM earlier in the meet. In addition, Marie Gingher '16 finished the meet with one gold (100-breaststroke) and one silver (200-breaststroke) while senior Caroline Coolidge captured two silvers (200-IM, 200-backstroke). Read more

Wrestling

Zach Thomson ’15 began the postseason on a high note by capturing the Centennial Conference title at 174 pounds inside Johns Hopkins University’s Goldfarb Gymnasium on Saturday.

Denied the title at 165 pounds in his opening campaign, Thomson cruised to his first conference title with the NCAA Division III East Regional looming next weekend. Entering the tournament as the top seed, he took down Ron Tassoni from Washington and Lee University by major decision 13-1 and pinned McDaniel College’s Nick Cross in 2:38 to reach the finals.
 
Pitted against Josh Miller from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Thomson jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first period. The Bullet sophomore added a reversal to start the second stanza and rode the period out in the top position. He secured another takedown and held Miller on the mat for most of the third period to close with the riding-time point and a 7-0 win.
 
Thomson improved to 27-2 on the year and will head into next weekend’s NCAA qualifying tournament as one of the top seeds. He is the first Bullet to win a conference title at 174 pounds since Chris Beck ’00 in 2000.

The Bullets wrestling team, which finished seventh in the team standings with 17 points, will turn their focus to the NCAA East Regional which will be hosted by the College inside Bream Gym on March 2. The top three place-winners in each weight class will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. Opening bouts next Saturday are slated to begin at 9 a.m. Read more

News and upcoming games at Gettysburg College Athletics.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Corey Jewart, associate director of athletic communications, 717.337.6323.
Contact: Mike Baker, assistant director of communications, 717.337.6521.