Women's Swimming
2009-10

KUTZTOWN, PA (October 26, 2009) – The Kutztown University women’s swimming team is looking to better last season’s performance, improve its position in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and move swimmers onto the NCAA championships in March.  The Golden Bears know it won’t be easy.  

“We swim in the toughest and deepest Division II conference in the nation,” coach Tim Flannery said. "We'll need to swim above our ability to make it out of seventh, but this is a good group that's capable of doing just that.” 

Last season, the Golden Bears finished 11-3 overall and 7-3 in the PSAC. They finished seventh at the conference championship meet. This year, Kutztown returns 13 swimmers, including seniors Steph Jeppesen (Bethlehem/Liberty) and Heather Wolkom (Rumson, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven), who are projected to do extremely well this season.  

Jeppesen qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships last year. She made a good impression by collecting All-America and two Honorable Mention honors.  Her All-America performance was a second place finish in the 200-breastroke (2:16.99) on the last day of the meet.  She also finished ninth in the 100-breaststroke (1:03.94) and 11th in the 200 individual medley (2:05.42).  All three performances were new school records.   

Jeppesen set a total of nine school records last season, including the demolition of a 12-year old 200 individual medley record of Claudine Gruver set at the 1997 NCAA Championships. She also swam the second leg of the school record 800-free relay (7:52.94) along with sophomore Nikki Hinsdale (Glen Mills/Bayard Rustin), junior Kerry Choplin (Thorofare, NJ/West Deptford) and Wolkom. 

Although, Jeppesen was the only KU swimmer to compete at the national championships, Flannery thinks it’s possible a few of her teammates could join her in the pool at nationals this year.  Some of the swimmers who could enjoy special seasons are sophomore Jordan Shapiro (Yardville, NJ/Princeton), Hinsdale, and junior Alex Crigler (Sinking Spring/Wilson-West Lawn). 

A top distance swimmer for KU, Wolkom swam to two KU school records in the 1000-freestyle (10:31.88) and the 1650-freestyle (17:53.17).  She finished fifth and sixth respectively in those events and added a sixth place finish in the 500-freestyle (5:10.61) at the PSAC championships.   A senior elementary education major, Wolkom will have her hands full with a packed swimming schedule and managing her pro-semester, (pre-teaching experience involving eight weeks of classes and seven weeks of practical experience in a classroom), this fall and student teaching in the spring. 

 Shapiro, a sprint and backstroke specialist, achieved an NCAA B-cut time in the 200-backstroke last season at the Golden Bear Invitational.  She will be counted on heavily this season.  Hinsdale specialized in the mid distance freestyle and backstroke. She showed a lot of promise last season and is expected to anchor the middle lineup for the Golden Bears.   

Adding depth will be junior Allison Sheely (Enola/Trinity), who is another sprint free and back swimmer expected to give the Golden Bears a big advantage in these events, as well as being a vital member of the medley and free relays.    

The Golden Bears also have a good amount of depth in distance events. After Wolkom come Crigler and Choplin.  Crigler, a transfer from Michigan State, set the 1650-freestyle school record last December at the F & M Invitational (17:53.87) and held it until Wolkom's efforts at PSACs. 

Choplin is not far behind.  She finished behind Wolkom and Crigler by only 10 seconds in the 1650-freestyle at the PSAC meet, which was good enough for a 13th place finish.  These three give the Golden Bears a formidable distance corp. 

“Our schedule is loaded with quality teams and we will have to be very focused to be able to duplicate the 11-win season.” Flannery said. “Our primary goal is to swim well in February at the PSAC championships and with the returning women and quality freshman class, we've put ourselves in position to achieve it.  It will come down to how much our women want this.”

--KU--