Women's Swimming | 2/20/2026 11:59:00 PM

YORK, Pa. - The Bloomsburg women's swimming team continued to stack points Friday night at the 2026 PSAC Championships at the Graham Aquatic Center, turning in multiple podium finishes and several notable time drops as the meet moved through day three.

Bloomsburg opened the evening with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay as Morgan Holmes (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), Vanesa Valli (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk), Grace McBlain (Aldan, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) and Rachel Cunningham (Hanover, Pa./South Western) combined for a 1:45.82. Holmes led off in 27.00 on the backstroke before Valli split 30.18 on breaststroke. McBlain's 25.51 fly leg and Cunningham's 23.13 anchor kept the Huskies in contention throughout.

In the 500 freestyle, Saryn McCullough (Newark, De./Newark Charter) paced Bloomsburg in the B final, dropping from her morning swim of 5:14.51 to 5:12.13 to finish 11th overall. McCullough controlled the middle 300 with consistent 31-second splits before closing in 30.30. In the C final, Ella Dittmar (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) delivered one of the Huskies' biggest improvements of the night, cutting more than five seconds off her prelim time (5:17.15) to finish 18th in 5:11.60, highlighted by a steady final 200 and a 31.09 closing split.

Holmes returned in the 100 backstroke and matched her prelim drop, touching in 57.27 to tie for fourth in the A final after a 57.56 in the morning. She split 27.63 on the opening 50 and held strong over the final length. Cunningham added a 59.36 in the C final to place 18th overall.

In the 100 breaststroke, Valli secured sixth in the A final with a 1:05.79 after a 1:05.09 prelim. In the B final, Avery Wenzel (Reading, Pa./Wilson) lowered her morning mark of 1:06.02 to 1:05.41 for ninth overall, using a 30.46 opening 50 to set the pace. Freshman Morgan Keefer (Lewisberry, Pa./Northern York) also dropped time, shaving from 1:06.14 to 1:05.90 to finish 10th. Olivia Igou (Flourtown, Pa./Springfield Township) cut nearly a full second from prelims (1:07.73 to 1:06.89) in the B final, while Taleah Ruben (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) improved from 1:08.58 to 1:07.64 in the C final.

Bloomsburg put three swimmers into championship heats of the 200 butterfly. McBlain led the way with a runner-up finish in 2:05.27, improving more than two seconds from her 2:07.32 prelim. She opened in 27.20 and powered through the middle 100 before holding on over the final 50. Ashley Martin (Middletown, N.Y./Pine Bush) also dropped time, moving from 2:09.40 to 2:08.64 for sixth, while Jordyn Kinnee (Frederick, Md./Oakdale) cut nearly a second in the B final (2:13.06 to 2:12.19). In the C final, Maddie Fletcher (Wrightstown, N.J./Northern Burlington County) produced one of the largest improvements of the session, trimming more than four seconds from prelims (2:18.25 to 2:13.68) to tie for 17th overall.

Through three days, Bloomsburg sits fourth in the team standings with 740.5 points heading into the final day of competition.

The final day of competition gets underway on Saturday with prelims at 10:00 a.m. and the finals beginning at 5:00 p.m.