After a strong finish to the 2022-23 season, the Penn State Altoona women's swimming team looks to carry its momentum into this year's schedule. The Lions racked up seven victories in dual meets throughout last regular season, then scored a program-record 614.5 points during the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships to take third place.

Despite graduating a strong senior class at the end of last season, Penn State Altoona still brings back a very solid core of returners: senior Sarah Petry (St. Benedict, PA/Cambria Heights), juniors Madison Coleman (Altoona, PA/Tyrone) and McKenna Holl (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin), and sophomores Isabella Rhoades (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) and Teah Sponsler (Halifax, PA/Halifax).

Sixth-year head coach Brad Brooks is excited about the foundation that his group of returners will provide to the program this season.

"Our ladies are led by a five-person returning class consisting of Madison Coleman, Sarah Petry, McKenna Holl, Teah Sponsler, and Bella Rhoades. All five of these ladies scored at the conference level last year, and we will look to them for leadership and continued excellence in the pool," said Brooks. "Madison Coleman and Sarah Petry became our first two ladies in program history to ever break 2:00 in the 200 Free, and they will anchor our mid-distance and distance freestyle groups. McKenna Holl started off the season in great shape and will look to continue to develop into one of the top backstrokers in the conference. Teah Sponsler is coming off an excellent freshman year that saw her A-final in three separate events, and she will continue to be a reliable scorer in the fly, back, and sprint events. Bella Rhoades was really versatile last year and expanded her swimming into breast, fly, and distance events. We will continue to work with her and watch her growth continue after massive drops last year at conferences."

In addition to their six returning swimmers, the Lions also welcome six freshmen to the roster this season: Nicole Canon (Levittown, NY/Division Avenue), Katie Chen (Jacksonville, FL/Creekside), Julia Daley (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy), Emma Fraundorfer (Altoona, PA/Altoona), Ayva Harris (Monroeville, PA/Gateway), and Ava Monborne (Ebensburg, PA/Central Cambria).

"Our incoming class of ladies has already been really impressive at practice. Emma Fraundorfer and Julia Daley will join McKenna Holl in the backstroke events and will provide depth in these events throughout our dual meet season," Brooks stated. "Ayva Harris has joined us as an excellent breaststroker, something we really needed in our incoming class, and she will hold it down for our breaststroke group this year. Katie Chen and Ava Monborne both have shown the ability to sprint and extend into the 200s, and we will spend some time over the first few meets dialing in on an effective event lineup for them, but their versatility will be key."

Penn State Altoona women's swimming has its 2023-24 season opener at home this Friday, October 13, when the Lions host Washington & Jefferson College for a dual meet starting at 6 p.m. in the Adler Natatorium. Throughout its regular season schedule, Penn State Altoona will compete in a total of nine dual meets, as well as one multi-day, multi-team invitational. The Lions' season will lead up to the AMCC Championships at Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, N.Y., held February 14-17.

Brooks is hopeful that, despite some losses from last year, his women's team will continue to find success in 2023-24.

"There is definitely no replacing our exceptional senior class that graduated last year, but our returners and freshmen have done a really fantastic job of taking the team in stride and setting us up for success this year without missing a beat," said Brooks. "We set a new standard of excellence over the past couple of years with our ladies teams and their performance, and we look to build on that success this year. We return a significant amount of points, and with a lot of freshmen scorers, our potential is limitless!"