Sports
Sports Editor: Jeff Hart – J.R.Hart2@iup.edu
(The Penn Archives) Can IUP take advantage of the extra time and get a meet victory?
IUP Swimming looks to win first meeting since pandemic AUSTIN SMITH
Staff Writer A.S.Smith7@iup.edu @ThePennIUP
Jeffery Hart
Sports Editor J.R.Hart2@iup.edu @ThePennIUP Splish, splash, the IUP swimming teams are back. The men’s and women’s teams will hit the water Saturday at Clarion. Head coach Chris Villa was excited about the opportunity to finish the season for both teams. “It was an exciting day for the PSAC swimming community when the conference made the decision
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to move forward with a championship for our sport,” Villa said in an IUP athletics press release. The meet against Clarion should be an interesting one. The men’s team will look to improve upon its 0–3 record from last season. With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, there will be no attendance allowed at the meets, but updates on the teams will come as quickly as they can to keep the IUP community updated. Both the men’s and women’s swimming teams will be the first sports to compete in a season since COVID-19 hit. With the first meet against Clarion, IUP should be clawing to get some kind of redemption. Last
season, IUP fell short at Clarion in a dual meet by the score of 165110. One of the successful events was the 200-meter backstroke. Taylor Auger (junior, MIS) managed to post a time of 2:01.40 and the 400 IM at 4:23.29. On the women’s side, Olympic hopeful Amber Baldani (sophomore, management) will look to impress and help her squad succeed in their first meet at Clarion. Even though this squad dropped its meet last season at Clarion, there were some standout performances like the one from Paige Miskell (junior, kinesiology). Mikesell represented Hawk Nation and took home individual honors in the 100-meter freestyle (53.53), 200-meter freestyle
January 27, 2021
(1:55.27), and the 100-meter butterfly (57.65). She also swam the third leg of the second place 200-meter medley relay squad. Rachel Johnson (junior, hospitality management) also stood out and put up two individual wins for the women, taking home top honors in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:07.87) and 400 IM (4:53.67). Last season, this squad showed that it has the individual talent to make a big impact. With all the extra time off, many are hopeful that the Hawks can take home a team win this time around. When asked about the upcoming conclusion to their season, Villa expressed his enthusiasm to IUP Athletics. “I feel optimistic in how the
season may play out,” he said. “We know a lot of other PSAC sports and student-athletes were not given the same opportunity so we're going to work very hard to not squander it.” he said. The other remaining meets that IUP has will be against Wheeling, Gannon and Alfred State. The last meet will take place Feb. 28th at home. While some sports may not have had a chance to play or finish their seasons, sports like swimming will have the opportunity to have the payoff for all of the hard work they have had to put in during this pandemic. It will be a different experience without fans there, but Hawk Nation stands with our teams during this chaotic time.
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