Saint Vincent College - Home of the Bearcats

3/7-9: SVC competes in National Meet


Five swimmers representing Saint Vincent College competed for the first time in the NAIA National Meet, held in St. Peter's, Missouri. The team of Kristy Hartbauer, Karli Buday, Katie Bittner and Kara Shirley finished 13th in the 200 yard Freestyle Relay with a school-record time of 1:52.13, just missing the chance to return this evening in the finals, which brings back the top 12 teams. Freshman Josh Shrum, the lone SVC representative in men's events, finished 20th in the men's 500 yard Freestyle, timed in 5:01.45, another school record. Finally, in the women's 400 yard Medley Relay, the aforementioned Lady Bearcat group finished 14th, timed in 4:36.23. --- On day two of the championships, Kristy Hartbauer competed in the 100 yard Breaststroke, finishing 20th with a time of 1:13.94. The 200 yard Medley Relay team of Bittner, Buday, Hartbauer and Shirley finished 14th in a school-record time of 2:06.74. --- The third and final day of competition brought two more school records. Hartbauer finished 13th in the 200 yard Breaststroke (2:34.98), while the 400 yard Freestyle Relay team of Hartbauer, Buday, Bittner and Shirley finished 13th in 4:03.40. The swimmers representing SVC had qualified earlier in the season by posting specific times, and all were able to better those times today. "We were in three events and set three school records," said Coach Josh Gurekovich. "It's a nice accomplishment for a first year program."

2/12: SVC competes in Grove City Invitational

The Saint Vincent swim team took part in the three-day Grove City Invitational this past weekend. The Lady Bearcats finished 9th of 11 teams.

The women's 200-yard Freestyle Relay team, consisting of Kristin Hartbauer, Karli Buday, Hope Amadee and Catherine Bittner, finished 9th with a time of 1:52.19.

The 400-yard Medley team, which consisted of the same four swimmers, finished 8th, timed in 4:45.62.

The 200 Medley team of Bittner, Buday, Hartbauer and Kara Shirley, finished 8th, while the same four finished 7th in the 400 Free Relay.

Hartbauer also competed in the 200 Individual Medley, finishing in a time of 2:24.14, was 8th in the 200 Breaststroke and 8th in the 100 Breaststroke.

Buday finished 16th in the 100 Backstroke, timed individually in 1:09.42.

The lone SVC representative in the men's competition, Josh Shrum, finished 16th in the 200 Freestyle (1:54.11), 16th in the 100 Freestyle and 13th in the 500 Freestyle (5:09.12).

1/29: SVC earns first victory

The Saint Vincent Lady Bearcat swim team earned the first victory in the first-year program's history with an 86-79 win over host Fairmont State in West Virginia.

Kristin Hartbauer earned the victory in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:11.95, which qualifies her for this year's national meet. Other SVC winners included Kara Shirley in the 200 Freestyle, Hartbauer in the 100 Butterfly, and the team of Shirley, Karli Buday, Gina Gamberoni and Hope Amadee in the 200 Freestyle Relay.

Other top performers:
- The 200 Medley Relay team of Catherine Bittner, Kristin Cullen, Hartbauer and Amadee finished second.
- Bittner finished second and Amadee was third in the 50 Freestyle
- Gamberoni finished third in the 200 Freestyle
- Cullen was third in the 200 IM
- Bittner took second place in the 100 Freestyle
- Buday was second and Gamberoni third in the 100 Backstroke
- Shirley finished second in the 500 Freestyle
- Buday was second in the 1000 Freestyle

The men's team lost to Fairmont State by a 68-16 score. Josh Shrum was third in the 500 Freestyle, third in the 200 IM, and second in the 50 Freestyle.

Swimming: SVC swimmers qualify for Nationals

In just the second meet in team history, the Saint Vincent swimming team performed well in the three-day Wooster College Invitational.

The women's 200 freestyle relay team, consiting of Kara Shirley (Saltsburg, PA/Kiski Area), Catherine Bittner (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair), Hope Amadee (Greensburg, PA/Greater Latrobe), and Kristen Hartbauer (Pittsburgh, PA/Oakland Catholic) finished 16th overall, qualifying for the NAIA National meet with a time of 1:54.05.

Also qualifying for the women was the 400 medley relay squad, finishing 16th with a time of 4:40.47. Members include Shirley, Hartbauer, Karli Buday (Freeport, PA) and Brittany Bean (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward).

The women's 200 yard medley relay team also will reach nationals, thanks to a 15th place effort in a time of 2:07.38. The team consists of Buday, Bean, Hartbauer and Shirley.

The women's 400 freestyle relay team (Hartbauer, Buday, Amadee and Shirley) will also reach the national event, thanks to a 17th place finish in a time of 4:09.50.

Hartbauer also qualified individually in the 200 yard breaststroke, with a time of 2:40.89.

On the men's side, Josh Shrum (Latrobe, PA/Greater Latrobe) qualified in the 500 meter freestyle with a time of 5:12.15, good for 20th overall.

In other events:
Women's 400 IM:
Kristen Hartbauer (15th) 5:18.88
Brittany Bean (22nd) 5:47.36

Men's 200 Freestyle:
Josh Shrum (22nd) 1:55.35

Women's 100 Breaststroke
Karli Buday (23rd) 1:21.73

Women's 100 Freestyle:
Kara Shirley (23rd) 1:01.23

SVC's next meet will be January 22, when the Bearcats and Lady Bearcats travel to West Virginia to face Bethany College. The NAIA National meet will take place March 2-5 in St. Charles, Missouri.

11/13: SVC competes in first-ever meet

Coach Josh Gurekovich and the Saint Vincent swim team competed in its first-ever meet on Saturday, taking on Penn State-Behrend.

The final team scores were PSB 82, Saint Vincent 41 on the women's side, PSB 59, Saint Vincent 9 for the men.

Freshman Catherine Bittner picked up SVC's initial individual win, in the women's 100 yard freestyle. Her winning time was 1:03.37.

Second place finishes for SVC on the day went to freshman Karli Buday in the 1000 yard freestyle (13:16.62) and the 100 yard breaststroke (1:20.75), sophomore Brittany Bean in the Individual Medley (2:42.27) and the 500 yard freestyle (6:12.98), freshman Josh Shrum in the 500 yard freestyle (5:25.54), and the women's team of Hope Amadee, Bean, Buday and Bittner in the 200 yard relay (1:57.54).