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ANNVILLE, Pa. - The Lebanon Valley College men's and women's swim teams will dive into the 2012-13 season on Saturday when both visit Widener at 1 p.m.

Both teams will open at home on Oct. 23 night, hosting Albright for the second annual Pink Meet at the Arnold Sports Center.

Large incoming classes for both teams will help improve their standings in the Middle Atlantic Conference; the men are coming off a 2-9 season and ninth-place MACs finish in 2011-12, while the women went 6-5 in dual meets and were seventh at MACs.

Led by seniors Shane Miller and captain Erik Brandt, the men's team returns six qualifiers from the 2012 MAC Championships. Miller was a MAC qualifier in the 50-free, while Brandt competed in the 100-breaststroke.

Matt Dwyer qualified in five MAC events last year, representing LVC in the 50-free as well as both the 100- and 200-backstroke while qualifying in the 100-fly and 200-IM. Eliott Bonds (100/200-breast), Joseph Chubb (100-back), Collin Straka (50-free) are the other returners with qualifying times from 2011-12. The men also bring back three-quarters of their top distance free relays (Bonds, Dwyer, Straka in the 400 and Brandt in the 800) that both ended up on the podium at MACs last year.

Five freshmen and five newcomer sophomores will add into the mix for the men's team.

The women will be led by 2012 double-MAC champion Jan Ikeda, who won gold in the 100- and 200-fly and bronze in the 200-IM while rewriting LVC's record books. Ikeda set 12 new program individual records and was part of five other record-setting relays as a freshman, specializing in fly and sprint distance events.

A 12-member senior class will continue to make an impact on the program, including captains Mary Gardner, Kris Roaten, and Kristen Zartman. Gardner was a member of four record-setting relays last year, while Roaten and Zartman have been two of the team's top distance freestylers over the past three years along with junior Alicia Hain, the program recordholder in five individual events including the 800m/1000y-free and 1,650-free. Junior Julia Mongeau returns as the recordholder for the 100m and 200m breaststrokes and both 400 IMs.

Other MAC qualifiers coming back include seniors Kerri Bailey (50-free, 100-fly), Heidi Metzler (100/200-breast), Charlie Robinson (50/100-free) and Alyssa Slusser (100-breast/400 IM); juniors Noelle Brossman (50-free, 100-back), Gabbie Groff (50-free), Krysteena Koller (100-breast, 100-fly, 200 IM); and sophomores Sabrina Fellenbaum (100-breast), Sarah Foery (100/200-breast).