Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Aquatics look to return to the top in the 2000-01 Season
10/20/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 20, 2000
LEWISBURG, Pa. -
After a successful season in 1999-00, the Bucknell Swimming and Diving team wishes to achieve better than a .500 record this season. Under the leadership of their coach Jerry Foley and his supporting cast, the Orange and Blue should be a force to be reckoned within the Patriot League.
The women's team will be led by senior tri-captains Melanie Kasper (Feasterville, Pa./Neshaminy), Molly Lowe (Hamilton Square, N.J./Steinert), and Gwen Packard (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wyoming). Kasper, over the last three seasons, has been a consistent performer for the Orange and Blue in the butterfly events. Packard, however, has focused her efforts on the freestyle and backstroke events, including her 200-yard freestyle relay team from last season that owns the eighth best time in BU history. Kasper, Packard, and Lowe will be expected by Coach Foley to lead the team on and off the pool deck. Lowe, already the owner of the top performance in the 400-yard individual medley will focus her attention this season on bettering that time and possibly taking over the top spot in the 200-yard individual medley. Lowe also owns top-ten performances in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events.
The rest of the senior class will be made up of swimmers Patrice Cahill (Turnersville, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) and Megan Jones (Glendale, Calif./Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy). The class of 2001 currently holds 13 top-ten performances in the Bucknell record books and will ry to add to that total in their final season under Coach Foley's guidance.
The Orange and Blue this season have a small junior class that makes up for lack of numbers with great competitive instinct. Barbara Morgan (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) and Abby Weaver (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) are the only two members of the junior class for the Bison women. These two athletes will focus their strengths on the freestyle and breaststroke events.
The sophomore class for the Bison is six swimmers strong, including three of which already hold top-ten performances for Bucknell. The class of 2003 is made up of Kathryn Anderson (Morristown, N.J./Villa Walsh Academy), Becky Dolan (Pine Forge, Pa./Boyertown), Stephanie Erickson (Columbus, Pa./Corry), Darby Golino (Milford, Conn./Our Lady of Academy), Lauren Mosler (Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes), and Alyson Steckbeck (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest). Dolan, Golino, and Mosler are the three individuals in this class who already have top-ten performances and their classmates are sure to follow their lead this season.
The incoming class for Coach Foley and the Bison women's team is comprised of eight swimmers and one diver. The diver, Sarah Petcavage (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area), will be able to work exclusively with diving coach Errol Carter this season. The eight new swimmers for the Bison women are Lynne Ashenfelter (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge), Daniela Faas (Ludwigshafen, Germany/Worcester Academy, Mass.), Meghan Freese (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock), Andrea Kern (Saltsburg, Pa./Saltsburg Middle), Meredith Miller (West Chester, Pa./B. Reed Henderson), Krisztina Poda (Bekescsaba, Hungary/Rozsa Ferene), Anna Sommers (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West), and Julia Walsh (Newtown, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy). The Bucknell women's team will use its abundance of underclassmen with experience to generate some fear in their opponents this season.
The men's team will also be led by a set of tri-captains, all three of whom will be expected to be verbal leaders as well as physical leaders. Seniors John Ferriter (Yorktown, Va./Hampton Roads Academy), Justin Schwarz (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire), and Jeff Sharpe (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) currently hold two individual top-ten performances and seven relay top-ten performances collectively amongst themselves. It is quite obvious that these three individuals will be looked to by the rest of the team for direction and leadership.
The four other seniors on the Bucknell men's team roster are Ethan Lew (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central), Benjamin Lim (Singapore, SG/Anglo-Chinese School), Bill Orendorf (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield), and Bill Trabosh (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman). Lim currently holds the Bucknell record in the 200-yard breaststroke and the third best time in the 100-yard breaststroke. Orendorf and Trabosh will be looked to for points at the Patriot League Championships in the individual medley and the distance freestyle events. Lew will be the only senior diver on the squad this season and will be the leader of the Bison diving elite.
The lone members of the junior class for the Bison swim team will be very valuable come the end of the season. The sole member of the class currently owns two individual top-ten performances and eight relay top-ten performances in the Bucknell record books to go along with several all-league team honors. Junior Chris Neary (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) was an all-league selection last season for his performance in the Patriot League Championships.
The sophomore class for this seasons swimming squad will be comprised of 10 swimmers and one diver. The lone diver in the class, Adam Fackler (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire), will join Lew as the only two divers for the men's team. Gonzalo Diaz (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades), Michael Guskey (Lexington, Kent./Tates Creek), and Adam Yerkes (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park) combine to hold six top-ten performances including Guskey's all-time top performance in the 100-yard breaststroke. Christopher Feinthel (Cranford, N.J./Cranford), Dustin Harris (Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley), Geoffrey Konopka (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Prep), Kurt McCoy (Trenton, N.J./Hamilton West), Bill Ruth (Sinking Spring, Pa./Governor Mifflin), Stelios Saffos (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic), and Stephen Schwanhausser (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) make up the rest of the sophomore class for the Bucknell men's swimming team.
Coach Foley brings to the Bison six new individuals who will only continue the tradition of success that Foley has instilled in his team. The members of the freshman class come from very successful high school programs and are hoping to make an immediate impact upon their arrival at Bucknell. The incoming class of 2004 is made up of Peter Garvin (Silver Spring, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel), Michael Harrigan (Doylestown, Pa./La Salle College HS), Michael Willats (Hamburg, N.Y./St. Francis), Adam Puff (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial), Jack Sheehan (Wenonah, N.J./Gateway Regional), and Matt Hallowell (Bath, Maine/Morse). These six individuals will be expected to get better in their strengths and expand in the number of strokes they excel at.
The Bucknell men's and women's swimming and diving teams will have a very similar schedule to the one they had last season. They open the season with the annual Blue vs. Orange scrimmage for some good competitive fun amongst the team before the real season begins. This season the Bison will host the Bucknell Swimming Invitational with the University of Pennsylvania and Binghamton on the first weekend of December. The members of the Bison diving team will not be present because they will be competing at the Drexel Diving Invitational the same weekend.
The Orange and Blue will use the Winter Break as a time to regroup when they head south to the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex in Florida for their annual training trip. Coach Foley and the Bison swimmers hope this trip will sufficiently prepare them for three straight Patriot League dual meets upon their arrival home. After these dual meets follow the Patriot League Championships at Colgate and the ECAC Championships at the Gloucester Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
