Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Third After Day One at Patriot League Championships
2/23/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 23, 2006
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Senior Todd Bauer (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) shattered a program record in the 500 free as the Bucknell men's swimming and diving team began competing in the three-day 2005-06 Patriot League Championships in Navy's Lejeune Hall on Thursday. The Bison are currently third in the team standings with 147 points after day one. Navy leads the team scoring with 250 points while Army is second with 159.5.
Bauer finished second in the preliminaries for the 500 free with a time of 4:33.33, surpassing the previous school record of 4:34.05 set by Bucknell Hall of Fame member Jim Harvey in 1986. Bauer went on to take fourth in the finals with a time of 4:35.11, while freshman Christopher Amato (East Norwich, N.Y.) broke into the Bucknell top-10 all-time list with a time of 4:38.35, good for seventh in the event and fifth in Bison history. Sophomore Joseph Metcalf (Knoxville, Tenn./Philips Exeter Academy) also set a new program top-10 mark in the 500 free, posting a time of 4:39.23 in the preliminaries, which ranks seventh all-time. He went on to finish 12th in the finals.
Sophomore Grant Steadman (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) took fourth in the 50 free with a personal-best time of 21.03, ninth in school history, and freshman Mark Kawczenski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) was sixth in the 50 free final (21.16) after posting the seventh-best mark in the Bucknell record books with his time of 20.98 in the preliminaries.
The 200 free relay team of sophomore John Peterman (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor), Kawczenski, senior Mark Kretzer (Northport, N.Y./Harborfields) and Steadman took second in the event in 1:23.20 and set the new No. 3 mark on the program's all-time top-10 list.
In the 400 medley relay, Bucknell's squad of Kretzer, senior William Schilling (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional), junior Matt Crandell (Winchester, Va./John Handley) and Steadman finished fourth with a time of 3:23.98, the third-best time in school history.
The Bison return to action tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 24, with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. on day two of the Patriot League Championships.
