Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championship
Bucknell Swimming and Diving Teams Looking Up After Day One at League Meet
2/26/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 26, 2004
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Bucknell women's swimming and diving team trails Colgate and Army and is tied with Navy after the first day of the Patriot League Championships at Annapolis, Md., while the men's team joins the rest of the league behind the Midshipmen's commanding lead at the close of day one of competition.
Colgate's 178 points on the women's side marks the standard, while Army (165), Navy and Bucknell (163) linger close behind. Navy earned 225 points after day one, with American (147) and Army (114 ?) ahead of Bucknell's 109 points as well. Last season, when the Bison won both titles, they led after the first day.
The evening began with a relay and ended with a relay, and both events turned out the same way for both Bison teams, only at completely different ends of the point spectrum. Bucknell started off the night by taking second in both the men's and women's 200 free relays, putting 34 points apiece in the bank. The women's team of Rebecca Scheffter, Mary Krakowski, Laura Goeller, and Meghan Freese completed the race in the second-fastest time in Bucknell history, 1:35.52. Krakowski and Freese helped set the record of 1:34.94 at last year's league meet. In the final event of the night, the 400 medley relay, both Bison teams were disqualified, costing Bucknell important points. The women's team swam the second-fastest time in the preliminaries this morning, while the men's team came in with the sixth-best time of the relay squads.
Bucknell's women took 56 points in the 500 free. Jennifer Cancro chipped in the largest share of that take, with a third-place 16-point finish. Todd Bauer and Brooks Steadman took 18 points between them on the men's side in the event. Steadman's third-place consolation final time of 4:39.39 is the sixth-best in Bucknell history. Bucknell's women added 29 more points in the following event, the 200 IM, with Goeller heading the pack with a sixth-place 13-point finish. The men's team used the event for 22 more points, with John Hoffman finishing a Bison-best seventh place and adding 12. Matt Hallowell improved on his personal best and remained in 10th place in the event in the Bison record books.
Meghan Freese had the best individual night of any Bison, setting a new school record in the preliminaries of the 50 free race, completing the event in 23.22 seconds. She missed that time by .05 seconds in the final, but both times provisionally qualified her for NCAA Championship competition. Freese's 50 free win was the only Bison gold medal on the night for either the men's or women's team. Bucknell's women chipped in 47 more points through the event. Peter Garvin improved on his third-best time in Bucknell history in the event, finishing the race in a fourth-place 20.43 seconds. Garvin's 15 points were the largest share of a 24-point take in the event.
On the women's side, Lehigh (125), American (94), Lafayette (78), and Holy Cross (67) rounded out the scoring, while Lehigh (103), Lafayette (91), Colgate (61 ?), and Holy Cross (53) sit below the Bison on the men's side.
