Acorn

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Isaac Liu Patrick Pfizenmayer ('10) strokes toward the finish line in the fly. He is one of the most improved Rangers this season.

The Drew University men's and women's swim teams both took 5th place at the Landmark Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at Merchant Marine Academy this weekend.

Despite the fact that USMMA won the men's title and Scranton won the women's title, both Rangers squads stormed back on the second day of competition to finish in the top five.

With 152 points, the women's team took 5th place out of seven teams, and finished eight points ahead of USMMA.

Trailing USMMA by 15 points heading into the final day, the Rangers mounted a seemingly insurmountable comeback.

The Rangers picked up 10 points in the first event as Beth Crockford-Peters ('08) and Kellie Joyce ('08) both finished among the top 10 in 1650 yard freestyle.

Joyce added four more points with another top-10 finish by taking 9th place in the 200-yard backstroke.

Selena Davis ('10) continued her much-improved sophomore campaign by coming in right on Joyce's heels in 10th position to earn three points for her team.

Kati Eggert ('11) turned in another solid rookie performance by taking 8th place in the 100-yard freestyle.

The Rangers' 400-yard relay team capped off the comeback by earning 20 points to secure the fifth place finish.While the women clawed their way back into the top five on the second day, the Rangers performed well enough to hold onto 5th.

Andrew Cronholm ('08), in his final collegiate meet, proved vital to the team's effort. Cronholm took five points in the 200-yard breaststroke, which elevated the team into 5th place after a sixth place finish in the men's 400-yard freestyle had the team trailing by two points.

Cronholm is pleased with his career at Drew and never could have foreseen the amount of success that he would have coming in as a freshman.

He came to the team at a low point in franchise history. However, he witnessed the program grow over his four years and feels that the team has great potential for years to come.

"The team will improve in terms of talent and leadership," Cronholm said. "We have a lot of great leaders rising through the ranks. I just hope we get numbers through recruiting."

Looking back upon his career at Drew, Cronholm is pleased with his performance. However, he feels that he could have done even more as the team captain."I probably could have done more in terms of fostering a healthy group dynamic," he said. "But that's something that I have struggled with since freshman. Nonetheless, I'm really going to miss Drew swimming."

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