Men's Swimming 2/22/2024 10:18:09 AM

Men's Swimming Championship Preview

The 29th annual Centennial Conference men'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.

Two-time defending champion Swarthmore once again enters as the favorite to hoist CC hardware following another 6-0 record in Centennial duals meets this season. The Garnet are ranked No. 21 in the latest College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) national poll. Gettysburg, which took second place in 2023, went 5-1 in CC dual meets, while Franklin & Marshall (4-2) also posted a winning dual record this winter and will look to contend with the Garnet and Bullets for top times this weekend.

Gettysburg owns the most conference titles (15) in CC history, followed by F&M (9) and Swarthmore (4). Those three squads have combined for each Centennial title since the championship began in 1994.

Seven individual champions return to the championship, led by two-time defending Most Outstanding Performer of the meet, Swarthmore senior Andrew Karpenko. Karpenko is one of just seven men's swimmers in conference history to win multiple MOP awards in a career, and will look to add to his lengthy list of awards this weekend. Karpenko is the two-time reigning champion in three events - the 200 IM, 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, owning conference and championship records in all three events.

Swarthmore's Ben Freeman will aim for a third consecutive gold in the 500 freestyle and a repeat in the 200 freestyle. Freeman was selected as the Swimmer of the Year in the conference last season, factoring in performances from the entire regular season and championship meet. The other returning individual championsfor the Garnet is reigning CC Rookie of the Year Cami Wilson, who won the 100 butterfly in 2023 with a conference and championship-meet record time.

Gettysburg's duo of Max McAlister (200 butterfly) and Charlie Cross (400 IM) along with F&M's John Devaney (100 freestyle) and Ursinus' Jonah Kasznay (1650 freestyle) will also vie for repeat golds this weekend.