GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Grove City College women's swimming and diving team will feature a relatively young roster in 2025-26 as the Wolverines feature only four seniors and four juniors on this year's squad.

While the team's overall experience level may not be as high as it has been in some years, the expectations remain high for the Wolverines as they pursue their seventh straight Presidents' Athletic Conference crown.

Two First Team All-PAC honorees return to help lead Grove City's senior class, senior breaststroker Sarah Janicki (Denver, Colo./Austin Waldorf) and senior sprinter Sadie Shofestall (Brookville, Pa./Brookville).

Janicki has earned First Team All-PAC in each of her first three seasons in the program. She is a past conference champion in the 200 breaststroke and earning runner-up in that event last year. Janicki will help lead Grove City in the breaststroke and will likely also contribute in the butterfly again in 2025-26.

Two-time All-Conference honoree Shofestall will help lead Grove City in the sprint events. She contributed to the Wolverines' conference champion 200 free relay at last year's conference meet while also scoring individually in the 50 and 100 free.

Seniors Leah Boardman (Laurel, Md./Annapolis Christian) and Samantha Eaton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) also return for their fourth season in the program.

Boardman will join Shofestall in leading a youthful sprint corps while Eaton is back in the butterfly and individual medley. Eaton scored in both butterfly races and the 400 IM as a junior at the conference championships.

Five-time conference champion Ashley Rauhauser (York, Pa./Homeschooled) will help lead Grove City in the backstroke and individual medley again this winter. She is a two-time conference champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke who also won the 2025 conference title in the 200 IM.

Rauhauser is a two-time First Team All-PAC honoree who ranks among the conference's top returners for the 2025-26 season.

Junior Jamie Durstein (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton La Salle) returns in the backstroke and sprints after achieving All-PAC status in each of her first two seasons at Grove City. Durstein finished third in the 100 backstroke at last year's conference meet.

Backstroker Katie Bell (Leroy, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian) and breaststroker Amanda McGurk (Dallas, Pa./Lake Lehman) are also back for their third season as Grove City. McGurk scored in both breaststroke events and the 200 IM at the 2025 conference championships. Bell, meanwhile, posted the No. 9 time in the 100 backstroke at last year's conference meet.

Five sophomores return to the lineup after earning All-Conference recognition last year.

Hadleigh McNay (Tucker, Ga./Tucker) swept the conference titles in the breaststroke in 2025 and will be counted on again to help lead Grove City in the breaststroke and individual medley. She earned First Team All-PAC as a rookie.

Distance specialist Freja Kile (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) recorded top-five finishes in the 200, 500 and 1650 free at last year's conference championships and joined McNay on the conference's First Team.

Sprinter Ellie Webster (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) also earned First Team All-PAC after contributing to conference titles in the 200 and 800 free relay as a freshman. Webster is expected to be one of Grove City's top entrants in the sprints this season as a sophomore.

Sophomores Pippin Lochstet (Ambler, Pa./Upper Dublin) and Aubrey Schroeder (Mount Airy, Md./South Carroll) earned Second Team All-PAC following their freshman seasons. Both performers will look to move up in the lineup this year. 

Lochstet returns in the butterfly, IM and distance events. Schroeder, meanwhile, will compete in the backstroke and individual medley, according to 17^th-year head coach Dave Fritz.

Sophomore Gianna Bracken (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) returns in the breaststroke after finishing fourth in the 100 breast at the 2025 conference meet. Second-year swimmer Gabby Kinneer (Mount Pleasant, Pa./Mount Pleasant) will bolster Grove City in the backstroke.

Sophomore transfer Marideth Hull (Cranberry Township, Pa./Eden Christian) is expected to help lead the Wolverines' distance corps. She is part of a talented crop of newcomers, which also features 11 freshmen.

Fritz expects several newcomers to compete for lineup spots throughout the season.

Grove City opens the season Saturday, October 18 at the Geneseo State Fall Classic in Webster, N.Y. The home and conference schedules begin Friday, November 7 against Saint Vincent.

Grove City will host the conference championships February 18-21, 2026 in James E. Longnecker Pool.