The Pitt-Bradford swim team will be making a big splash from the
club team level to an NCAA Division III participant when the
2006-07 season begins with the Pitt-Bradford Panther Relays on
Saturday in the Sport & Fitness Center pool.

The inaugural 1 p.m. meet with Penn State Altoona, Penn State
Behrend, Notre Dame College and Bethany College will serve as the
official commencement of the Pitt-Bradford swim program for
second-year head coach Carl Erikson.

“The pool area will be full of people, energy and excitement,”
said Erikson. “We are a new sport here, but hopefully we will draw
some new fans in, and get their support and encouragement.”

The five-man, three-woman Panther squad will also host Alfred
University on Nov. 4 and Frostburg State on Jan. 19 on their
10-meet schedule.

“This year we have a full schedule,” Erikson noted. “It’s our
first opportunity to get out and swim against some of these teams.
It’s going to be exciting. We have a number of dual meets, some tri
meets and two invitationals. The invitationals will give us a taste
of what is to come at the AMCC Championships (Feb. 8-10).

“We are small in numbers, but we will be competitive on the
guys’ side in individual races,” Erikson continued. “It’s just a
matter of us putting one guy in a race and the other teams will be
putting three. Altoona and Wells have small teams, so we’re looking
at those two meets where we could challenge for the team
score.”

Erikson returns only one swimmer on the women’s side from last
year’s club team and that is senior Natalie Kramer of
Bernville.

“Natalie (Kramer) is primarily a freestyler,” Erikson declared.
“She will swim the 1500 and the 200, and maybe the 100 back, the
100 breast and the 200 breast. She has made great strides and is
swimming at last year’s level. I’m expecting her to make some
dramatic improvements.”

The other two women are junior Marissa Angevine of Harrisburg
and freshman Anne Morgan of Havertown.

“Angevine has come in ready to become a good swimmer, and will
swim a little freestyle and a little butterfly,” Erikson said.
“Morgan has a limited background and has made great progress. She
may be the fastest woman on our team this year, and could set some
records for us in the freestyle and breast.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Mike Dixon of Bradford is the only
returnee from the 2005-06 club team.

“He (Dixon) is the captain and a distance swimmer in the 500,
the 1000 and the 1650,” Erikson offered. “He had a great season
last year in only his second year of competitive swimming. In our
intra-squad meet last Saturday, he set two lifetime bests. He has a
lot of potential and works really, really hard.”

Dixon will be joined by freshmen Cameron Lanich of Batavia,
N.Y., Sam Mihelich of Brunswick, Ohio, Nick Pabst of Hamburg, N.Y.,
and Andy Sarbak of Erie.

“Lanich is probably our most talented and most versatile swimmer
at the moment,” Erikson boasted. “Mihelich is a butterflyer and an
IMer, and we’re thrilled to have him on the team. Pabst is a
backstroker and a sprint freestyler who is very competitive. We are
looking for Sarbak to excel in the backstroke and the mid-distance
areas.”

Erikson will be assisted by Chris Brooks, who swam for Erikson
at the club level last season.

“I’m thrilled to have him (Brooks) back,” Erikson declared. “He
has a real desire to learn how to coach.”

Erikson feels the keys to a successful season are training,
development and laying a foundation for future years.

“It will be important how we interact, support each other,
encourage each other, and come together as a team,” Erikson
concluded.