Duda wins third-straight 500 freestyle title at PAC's

2/20/2025 8:50:00 PM

GROVE CITY, Pa.--Westminster College senior Sam Duda (Tulsa, Okla., Bishop Kelley) scored his third-straight individual title in the 500 freestyle at the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday evening.

Duda registered a season-best time of 4 minutes, 47.22 seconds, edging Grove City's Samuel Thayer by 1.75 seconds. Duda posted the top time in Thursday morning's preliminaries (4:50.58) after entering as the event's No. 2 seed behind Grove City's Caleb Mayhew, who finished in sixth place. Duda finished with a time of 4:45.98 in 2023 and a time of 4:46.84 in 2024.

Freshman Avery Bumbach (Ocala, Fla., Forest) finished seventh in the 200 IM with a season-best time of 1:59.24 while freshman Jack Katigbak (North Canton, Ohio, Lake Center Christian) was 11th in the 50 freestyle with a season-best time of 22.16. Sophomore Colton Super (Aliquippa, Pa., Central Valley) was the runner-up on the 1-meter board, finishing with a score of 343.85 points during the 11-dive event. He was third (337.20) on the 1-meter board last year.

Senior Mason Peck (Cary, N.C., Panther Creek) and sophomore Hayne Webster (Wellsboro, Pa., Wellsboro) finished 13th (5:07.82) and 14th (5:12.38), respectively, in the 500. Seniors Patrick Benedict (Pittsburgh, Pa., Upper St. Clair) and Michael Phillips (Saxonburg, Pa., Knoch) were 13th (2:09.95) and 14th (2:10.35), respectively, in the 200 IM.

Westminster's 400 medley "A" relay was fourth with a time of 3:42.48. Members included Katigbak, Phillips, Webster and Duda.

Up Next:
Six events will be decided during Friday's evening's finals, scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

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