Gannon Knight Sports

     The Gannon University women’s basketball team isn’t the only athletic program that is receiving national recognition.
     In the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll, the Gannon University men’s and women’s teams were both ranked in the Top 25.
     The women’s team, which sits at 8-2 on the season and has won four of its last five matches, is ranked sixth, while the men’s program entered the rankings for the first time this season at No. 23.
     The women, who haven’t finished higher than second in any meet this season, are coming off a 158-130 dusting of rival Edinboro University.
     The women’s team has two meets before the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships begin Feb. 13 in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
     Before that, the squad will travel to Indiana (Pa.) Saturday to tangle with the Crimson Hawks, slated for a 1 p.m. start.
     Ellie Hess, a standout freestyle swimmer for the Knights, said she and the rest of her relay team are happy with their success thus far this season, but there is still room for improvement as the season gets older.
     “My relay team made our national cut at our mid-season invitational which was earlier than last year,” the junior said. “So we are really excited for that and looking forward to doing even better at PSACs then at nationals.”
     On the men’s side, the club sits at 5-5 overall and has lost two straight matches. The biggest problem for the men has been their inability to win on the road, where they are 0-3 this season, compared to their 3-1 record inside the Carneval Athletic Pavilion.
     Like the women, the men will travel to IUP and finish out the season at the Youngstown State Diving Invite the following day in Youngstown, Ohio.
     After starting the season with three losses and a seventh-out-of-10 team finish, the men put together a five-match winning streak to earn the national ranking.
     Both teams will be on the road for the remainder of the campaign, as they finished up the home portion of the schedule with victories over SUNY Brockport Jan. 22.