Monday, February 17
York, PA
Millersville University
at
PSAC Championship
'Ville swimming seeks record-setting finish at PSAC Championships
2/14/2025 9:13:00 AM | Women's Swimming
YORK, Pa. - For the Millersville women's swimming team, this year's PSAC Championship is about quality, not quantity. The Marauders have 12 swimmers qualified to compete in 14 individual events, but with nine top eight seeds and top-six rankings in every relay race, the team could be headed for the best finish in program history.
Millersville is a program on the rise. It had never finished better than 10th at the PSAC Championships until 2022, and after qualifying a record number of swimmers in 2023 and 2024, the team climbed in the standings to seventh out of 12. Under the guidance of second-year head coach Evan Anthony, the Marauders are poised to making another jump at the four-day championship event.
"We want to pass the amount of points that we had last year," said Anthony. "We have 12 swimmers, but they are going to score. Those finishes will be quality. It's going to be a fight for fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth place. It's going to be close."
The championships begin Monday, Feb. 17 with prelims for the 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and 1,000-yard freestyle and concludes on Thursday, Feb. 20 with finals in the 1,650-yard free style, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, and 400-yard freestyle relay. The event is hosted at the Graham Aquatics Center in York, Pa. The top 24 swimmers in individual events score points for their teams. Millersville's record total of 534 was scored in 2023. The team totaled 489 in 2024 and still finished seventh.
Because of their depth, Millersville should accumulate points in the freestyle distance events, breaststroke and IM because of depth. Millersville has a chance for four point-scoring finishes with Claire Weaver, Izabella Wreski, Jane McClelland and Madison Taylor qualified in the 500 and 1,000, and McClelland, Wreski and Taylor ranked in the top 15 in the 1,650. Weaver and Wreski are seeded ninth and 10th in the 500. McClelland is seeded sixth and Wreski is seventh in the 1,000, and McClelland (sixth) and Wreski (ninth) have a shot at the podium in the 1,650.
Jordan Plempel, Wreski, Leah Eckert, Kate Pelagatti and Ava Adiletti give the Millersville five opportunities to score in the 200 and 400 IM. Plempel is the school record holder in both the 200 IM and 400 IM and a 12-time placewinner at the PSAC Championships, finding the podium six times as an individual. The IM is her specialty, and she's finished fifth in the 400 IM twice, but her best time this season is 4:34.54, and that's three full seconds better than she posted in the championship finals last season. That has her ranked second in the event, trailing only West Chester's Lenya Ryan (4:28.75). Plempel is ranked sixth in the 200 IM with a seed time of 2:09.51. Her best career finish of sixth came in 2023, and she took seventh last season. Plempel could also find her way to the podium in the 200-yard breaststroke, as she enters the meet ranked seventh.
"Jordan swam her 400 seed time in a dual in mid-season," said Anthony. "Hopefully she'll carry that momentum into this week. She's been busy with student teaching, but she's getting into the right mindset to get up and go."
Eckert is a contender in the 100 breaststroke, an event in which she holds the school record. She enters the championships seeded fourth with at time of 1:05.62, but that's just 0.3 off of second place. Eckert is also the school record holder in the 200 breast, and her fifth-place seed time of 2:25.55 leads a trio of Marauders with podium aspirations. Plempel is seeded seventh, just .11 behind Eckert, and Jewels Hepner is ninth at 2:26.97. Millersville has seven swimmers competing in both breaststroke events with Wreski, Adiletti, Pelagatti and Natalee Shepard joining the top three. Eckert finished fifth in the 100 breast in 2023 and seventh in the 200 breast in 2024.
Mackenzie Yosko is Millersville's best chance for points in the butterfly as she's ranked 22nd in the 100 and ninth in the 200 (2:11.99). The 200 is her top event, ranking second in school history, and she's looking to improve upon last year's 16th-place finish.
Millersville's sprint specialist is Jewels Hepner, the school record holder in the 50 free. She's competing in her fourth PSAC Championships and has scored points for the Marauders in 10 individual events. Her best finish—10th in the 100 free—came in 2023, but she's seeded seventh (1:06.33) in the 100-yard breaststroke as well as ninth in the 200. She will likely score points for the Marauders in the 50 free as she is seeded 13th (24.17), and she's 16th in the 100 free (53.16).
Millersville's future is bright as three freshmen qualified for the championships. In addition to Wreski, Shepard and Anna Sassaman will both compete in four events. Sassaman qualified in the 50, 100 and 200 free, and 100 backstroke.
"The relays are going to be good for us this year," said Anthony. "The difference will be the depth in the B and the C final and swimming fast in the morning. The people who haven't finaled in the past, we want to get them into that C final and score some points this year."
THE SCHEDULE
(Qualifying Seed/Time)
Monday
Millersville is a program on the rise. It had never finished better than 10th at the PSAC Championships until 2022, and after qualifying a record number of swimmers in 2023 and 2024, the team climbed in the standings to seventh out of 12. Under the guidance of second-year head coach Evan Anthony, the Marauders are poised to making another jump at the four-day championship event.
"We want to pass the amount of points that we had last year," said Anthony. "We have 12 swimmers, but they are going to score. Those finishes will be quality. It's going to be a fight for fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth place. It's going to be close."
The championships begin Monday, Feb. 17 with prelims for the 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and 1,000-yard freestyle and concludes on Thursday, Feb. 20 with finals in the 1,650-yard free style, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, and 400-yard freestyle relay. The event is hosted at the Graham Aquatics Center in York, Pa. The top 24 swimmers in individual events score points for their teams. Millersville's record total of 534 was scored in 2023. The team totaled 489 in 2024 and still finished seventh.
Because of their depth, Millersville should accumulate points in the freestyle distance events, breaststroke and IM because of depth. Millersville has a chance for four point-scoring finishes with Claire Weaver, Izabella Wreski, Jane McClelland and Madison Taylor qualified in the 500 and 1,000, and McClelland, Wreski and Taylor ranked in the top 15 in the 1,650. Weaver and Wreski are seeded ninth and 10th in the 500. McClelland is seeded sixth and Wreski is seventh in the 1,000, and McClelland (sixth) and Wreski (ninth) have a shot at the podium in the 1,650.
Jordan Plempel, Wreski, Leah Eckert, Kate Pelagatti and Ava Adiletti give the Millersville five opportunities to score in the 200 and 400 IM. Plempel is the school record holder in both the 200 IM and 400 IM and a 12-time placewinner at the PSAC Championships, finding the podium six times as an individual. The IM is her specialty, and she's finished fifth in the 400 IM twice, but her best time this season is 4:34.54, and that's three full seconds better than she posted in the championship finals last season. That has her ranked second in the event, trailing only West Chester's Lenya Ryan (4:28.75). Plempel is ranked sixth in the 200 IM with a seed time of 2:09.51. Her best career finish of sixth came in 2023, and she took seventh last season. Plempel could also find her way to the podium in the 200-yard breaststroke, as she enters the meet ranked seventh.
"Jordan swam her 400 seed time in a dual in mid-season," said Anthony. "Hopefully she'll carry that momentum into this week. She's been busy with student teaching, but she's getting into the right mindset to get up and go."
Eckert is a contender in the 100 breaststroke, an event in which she holds the school record. She enters the championships seeded fourth with at time of 1:05.62, but that's just 0.3 off of second place. Eckert is also the school record holder in the 200 breast, and her fifth-place seed time of 2:25.55 leads a trio of Marauders with podium aspirations. Plempel is seeded seventh, just .11 behind Eckert, and Jewels Hepner is ninth at 2:26.97. Millersville has seven swimmers competing in both breaststroke events with Wreski, Adiletti, Pelagatti and Natalee Shepard joining the top three. Eckert finished fifth in the 100 breast in 2023 and seventh in the 200 breast in 2024.
Mackenzie Yosko is Millersville's best chance for points in the butterfly as she's ranked 22nd in the 100 and ninth in the 200 (2:11.99). The 200 is her top event, ranking second in school history, and she's looking to improve upon last year's 16th-place finish.
Millersville's sprint specialist is Jewels Hepner, the school record holder in the 50 free. She's competing in her fourth PSAC Championships and has scored points for the Marauders in 10 individual events. Her best finish—10th in the 100 free—came in 2023, but she's seeded seventh (1:06.33) in the 100-yard breaststroke as well as ninth in the 200. She will likely score points for the Marauders in the 50 free as she is seeded 13th (24.17), and she's 16th in the 100 free (53.16).
Millersville's future is bright as three freshmen qualified for the championships. In addition to Wreski, Shepard and Anna Sassaman will both compete in four events. Sassaman qualified in the 50, 100 and 200 free, and 100 backstroke.
"The relays are going to be good for us this year," said Anthony. "The difference will be the depth in the B and the C final and swimming fast in the morning. The people who haven't finaled in the past, we want to get them into that C final and score some points this year."
THE SCHEDULE
(Qualifying Seed/Time)
Monday
- 200 IM: Jordan Plempel (6th/2:09.51), Leah Eckert (27th/2:15.05), Izabella Wreski (50th/2:19.54), Kate Pelagatti (60th/2:22.34), Ava Adiletti (66th/2:28.77)
- 50 Free: Jewels Hepner (13th/24.17), Jordan Plempel (17th/24.24), Anna Sassaman (45th/25.25), Natalee Shepard (54th/25.62), Mackenzie Yosko (64th/26.33)
- 1,000 Free: Jane McClelland (6th/10:45.95), Izabella Wreski (7th/10:50.43), Claire Weaver (16th, 11:10.62), Madison Taylor (21st/11:20.01)
- 800 Free Relay: 6th/7:54.38
- 100 Fly: Mackenzie Yosko (22nd/1:00.02)
- 400 IM: Jordan Plempel (2nd/4:34.54), Izabella Wreski (11th/4:44.19), Leah Eckert (26th/4:56.22), Kate Pelagatti (29th/5:00.21), Ava Adiletti (37th/5:20.94)
- 200 Free: Jane McClelland (23rd/1:57.96), Claire Weaver (25th/1:58.37), Jewels Hepner (27th/1:58.49), Anna Sassaman (31st/1:59.56), Madison Taylor (44th/2:02.73), Natalee Shepard (52nd/2:06.41)
- 200 Free Relay: 7th/1:38.09
- 400 Medley Relay: 5th/3:55.70
- 500 Free: Claire Weaver (9th/5:09.53), Izabella Wreski (10th/5:10.63), Jane McClelland (13th/5:11.46), Madison Taylor (23rd/5:24.99)
- 100 Back: Jordan Plempel (13th/59.32), Claire Weaver (32nd/1:02.00), Mackenzie Yosko (36th/1:03.30), Anna Sassaman (45th/1:06.09)
- 100 Breast: Leah Eckert (4th/1:05.62), Jewels Hepner (7th/1:06.33), Jordan Plempel (12th/1:06.69), Izabella Wreski (25th/1:09.03), Ava Adiletti (41st/1:11.21), Natalee Shepard (44th/1:12.08), Kate Pelagatti (45th/1:12.14)
- 200 Fly: Mackenzie Yosko (9th/2:11.99)
- 200 Medley Relay: 6th/1:48.04
- 100 Free: Jewels Hepner (16th/53.16), Jordan Plempel (18th/53.25), Anna Sassaman (44th/55.04), Claire Weaver (48th/55.42), Natalee Shepard (54th/55.91)
- 200 Back: Jordan Plempel (11th/2:09.24), Claire Weaver (14th/2:10.62), Mackenzie Yosko (29th/2:16.07), Madison Taylor (31st/2:16.59)
- 200 Breast: Leah Eckert (5th/2:25.55), Jordan Plempel (7th/2:25.66), Jewels Hepner (9th/2:26.97), Izabella Wreski (20th/2:31.23), Kate Pelagatti (33rd/2:34.76), Natalee Shepard (43rd/2:39.01), Ava Adiletti (46th/2:41.97)
- 1,650 Free: Jane McClelland (6th/17:50.14), Izabella Wreski (9th/17:58.35), Madison Taylor (15th/18:40.56)
- 400 Free Relay: 6th/3:34.27
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
/ Women's Swimming
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