Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Princeton Invitational
Bucknell Swimming and Diving Closes Out Weekend at Big Al Open
12/2/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 2, 2007
PRINCETON, N.J. - The Bucknell swimming and diving teams closed out the weekend at Princeton's Big Al Open by setting four program top-10 marks on Sunday. On the men's side the Bison finished the three-day meet with 86 points to place seventh out of eight teams, while the women totaled 55 and placed 11th out of 11 schools. Penn State paced the field for both the men and the women with point totals of 1,065 and 1,057, respectively.
For Bucknell's men, sophomore Luke Trafton (Bath, Maine/Morse) captured 12th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16 minutes, 0.06 seconds, while classmate Ben Leboza (Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) took 17th in 16:32.15.
Senior Joseph Metcalf (Knoxville, Tenn./Phillips Exeter Academy (N.H.)) also recorded a 12th-place finish as he swam the 200 breast in 2:10.29.
In the 200 fly, two Bison qualified for the finals as freshman Michael Volpe (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) posted a time of 1:57.25 to take 18th and senior Matthew McGraw (Penfield, N.Y./Fairport) followed in 24th with a time of 2:05.33. As an exhibition swimmer, Trafton recorded the 10th-fastest 200 fly time in Bucknell history, reaching the wall in 1:55.70.
Junior Mark Kawczenski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) and McGraw were finalists in the 200 back, placing 23rd and 24th with times of 1:59.07 and 1:59.31, respectively.
On the women's side for the Orange and Blue, junior Kelly Morris (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) and freshman Macey Keath (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) both scored in the 200 breast. Morris took 15th with a time of 2:24.94 and Keath finished 16th in 2:25.43, good for sixth in the Bison record book. Sophomore Abigail Atkinson (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) finished 24th in the event (2:28.63) after moving into ninth on the program's top 10 list with her career-best time of 2:28.22 in the preliminaries.
Atkinson set a new personal best in the 200 back, as well, posting a time of 2:08.31 in the preliminaries, which ranks 10th in Bucknell history. She went on to place 21st in the final with a time of 2:08.99, while sophomore Courtney Warren (Montour Falls, N.Y./Watkins Glen) followed in 22nd with a time of 2:09.44.
The Bison will next travel to Hamilton, N.Y., for a Patriot League dual-meet against Colgate, which is set for 1 p.m. on Jan. 12.
