GROVE CITY, Pa.--The Hood men's and women's swimming teams closed out their seasons by combining for nine school records at the prestigious 10-team Grove City College Invitational/Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships this weekend.

The Blazers' women finished fifth with 218 points, while the men were eighth with 146 points. Both teams improved two spots over last year's showings. Westminter swept the team titles.

"This is one of the fastest Division III conference meets in the nation, and we had great performances across the board," Hood head coach Don Feinberg said. "This is a great culmination to our season and an excellent beginning for next year."

On the women's side, sophomores Lenore Brown and Amy Kaufman teamed with freshmen Sarah Haney and Ashley Garyn to set school records in the 200-yard freestyle relay (fifth in 1:48.16) and the 400-yard medley relay (sixth in 4:28.29). The four also combined for a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (2:00.45).

The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Kaufman, Haney, Brown and freshman Danielle Sgro set a school record with a time of 8:39.77 in the preliminaries before finishing fourth in the finals in 8:40.86.

Sgro and Garyn joined fellow freshmen Kara Cruice and Katie Bergin to place 10th in the 400-yard freestyle relay (4:20.51).

Brown and Kaufman highlighted the performances in the individual events.

Brown finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke in a school-record 2:19.21, surpassing her former mark by .66 seconds. She was also 11th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:05.57) and 12th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:22.44).

Kaufman was the runner-up in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:07.08) and the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:44.51), and she added a fourth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:24.96).

Sgro was 12th in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:54.60) and 13th in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:46.76), Haney was ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:15.36) and 15th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:30.18) and Garyn was 15th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:15.12).

Sophomore Jason Kinder set four school records to pace the men's team. He was fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:08.74, fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:16.89 and 10th in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:56.10.

His leadoff split of 1:51.61 in the 800-yard freestyle relay was also a school mark for 200 yards and sparked the Blazers to a sixth-place finish in 7:54.13. Kinder was joined by juniors Stu Kaufman, Fran Pedersen and Matt Caron.

The quartet were also eighth in the 400-yard medley relay (4:19.13) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:36.12).

Caron added a school record in the preliminaries of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.25 and finished 16th in the finals in 51.51. He was also 12th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.77) and 13th in the 100-yard backstroke (59.81).

Kaufman finished 14th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:17.32) and 15th in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:06.21), while Pedersen was 16th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:39.71).

The 200-yard freestyle team of Caron, Pedersen, freshman Eric Walton and Kinder placed seventh (1:38.90).

Women's Final Standings
Westminster - 817
Washington & Jefferson - 727
Grove City - 588
College Misericordia - 327
Hood - 218
Frostburg State - 174
Penn State Behrend - 173
St. Vincent - 161
Bethany - 150
Penn State Altoona - 145


Men's Final Standings
Westminster - 936
Grove City - 906
Washington & Jefferson - 624
St. Vincent - 225
College Misericordia - 199
Frostburg State - 198
Bethany - 179
Hood - 146
Penn State Altoona - 97
Penn State Behrend - 65