By James Bossert, Swimming World College Intern
Ever since my recruiting visit to Grove City College in October 2010, the stories I heard about the Grove City vs. Westminster rivalry made it easy to want to be a part of it. I had never heard of Westminster College until that trip, but I knew that this rivalry was something special.
It’s about more than dual meet wins. It’s more important than swimming itself. It’s about teamwork and school pride.
When people hear about a rivalry, one of the first things they ask about is history. Grove City and Westminster have plenty of that.
The rivalry began at a meet in the 1938-1939 season. There have since been 81 dual meets and the Grove City men narrowly lead 41-40. The women’s rivalry began in the 1988-1989 season (the first year Grove City offered a women’s team) and Westminster’s women lead 16-10.
Like many famous rivalries, Alabama vs. Auburn or the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees, one big factor is how close in proximity the teams are to each other. Located only 15 miles apart, Grove City and Westminster were destined to be rivals.
Because of their nearness, they tend to recruit from the same schools and areas. High School students even go to the annual Thursday night dual meets for motivation at the end of their season.
“There was always so much energy on deck during the Grove City and Westminster dual meets,” Grove City sophomore Stefani Wendelschaefer said. “While in high school, watching this meet rekindled the fire and passion we needed to get through the rest of our high school season.”
The teams seem to always be matched-up very well in regards to swimming ability.
Westminster senior Beth Waddell states it well- “Both schools have great programs with very talented swimmers. This meet is very competitive and fun to watch.”
Waddell compared the week leading up to the meet to rivalry week in other sports.
“It’s like rivalry week in Division I football. On paper, the meet should go one way or the other. But as soon as the meet starts, we never know what is going to happen.”
Also, with the meet held on a Thursday night, a different level of energy is brought to the deck. It is different than a typical Saturday meet.
Freshman Sarah Gazica of Grove City hasn’t swam in the meet yet, but remembers attending the meet as a recruit.
“Weeknight meets always have extra energy and pressure added on to them,” she said.
David Bossert, a 2014 graduate of Grove City, loved “how it was the only meet, at least for Grove City, to occur during prime time. Athletes step up when the spotlight is the biggest and besides the conference championship, there is no bigger spotlight than this meet.”
Because this meet is later on in the year, held just two weeks before conference championships, both teams are in the middle of their tapers. But that doesn’t mean the teams overlook this meet.
Both teams use this meet as a gut check on where they are physically and mentally. As Grove City sophomore Molly Gallant describes it, “It’s just a get in and race type of meet.”
“Of course we care about times and technique still, but it’s more about getting our hand on the wall first,” Gallant expands. “Coach Fritz tells us all the time that we need to get in and race, but this meet makes that motive so real.”
“There is some extra motivation to beat them because it is so close to conference championship,” Bossert elaborates. “It is a huge momentum builder leading up to conference champs. Grove City and Westminster are the two top teams in the conference at the conference championships, battling for that top spot and the trophy starts with this dual meet.”
Since 2003, three years after Westminster joined the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, Westminster and Grove City men’s teams have owned the top two spots at the conference championships. GCC has won seven titles, included a five-year stretch from 2008-2012. WC has won five titles, with a three-year winning streak from 2005-2007.
On the women’s side, Westminster and Grove City have been in the top three every year during the same 12-year stretch. Grove City’s women have won the last half of the titles, with Westminster winning four and Washington and Jefferson winning two titles.
Interestingly enough, the winner of the dual meet does not always come out on top at the conference championship two weeks later.
Last year for example, Westminster’s men beat Grove City by a slim margin (156-141). But two weeks later, the Grove City men triumphed 773-718 at the conference championship meet. This wasn’t the first time something strange like that has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.
After swimming against Westminster for four years, Bossert has a seasoned perspective.
“When I swam against them, Westminster seemed to be a dual meet team,” he said. “But over the last two years, they have started coming full circle by adding so much more depth to their roster, and it makes for a great conference championship.”
For some swimmers, this dual meet is a chance to swim against people they either swam with or against in high school.
Two freshman at Grove City, Caroline Ebel and Gazica, both have good friends on Westminster and cannot wait to see them again.
Ebel swam with Westminster sophomore Sarah Pace in high school in Pittsburgh.
“I can’t wait to see how much Sarah has improved both as a person and as a swimmer. We were so close in high school and now that we go to different schools, it’s going to be different racing against her instead of with her.”
Westminster travels to Grove City on January 29, for their prime-time 6 p.m. showdown.
Live results can be found at the Grove City Athletics page here.