Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Bucknell Men's Swimming & Diving Fourth After First Day of Patriot League Championships
2/16/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 16, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Freshman Luke Trafton (Bath, Maine/Morse) broke the program 500 free record to finish as the runner-up in the event, helping the Bucknell men's swimming & diving team to its fourth-place total of 133 points following the opening day of the 2007 Patriot League Championships, held in Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium on Friday. Navy led the pack with 293 points, while Army followed in second with 219 and Lehigh was third with 137.
The Bison 200 free relay team of junior John Peterman (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor), sophomore Mark Kawczenski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area), junior Bradford Bennett (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) and junior Grant Steadman (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) posted the seventh-fastest time in school history, 1:23.22, to take fourth in the opening event of the evening finals session.
Then, after setting a new Bucknell record in the 500 free with his time of 4:32.41 in the preliminaries earlier in the day, Trafton improved upon his trials mark, touching the wall in 4:30.90 in the finals. The Bison saw four of its swimmers qualify for the "B" final, as well. Freshman Ben Leboza (Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) took ninth with the No. 6-time in school history, 4:37.78, junior Joseph Metcalf (Knoxville, Tenn./Phillips Exeter Academy) was 10th in 4:38.19, eighth-fastest all-time, sophomore Patrick Stummer (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) took 12th in 4:40.46 and sophomore Christopher Amato (East Norwich, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) placed 16th with a time of 4:44.10.
Sophomore Michael Deighan (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson), freshman Daniel Fletcher (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) and freshman Brett Carey (West Chester, Pa./Malvern Prep) represented the Orange and Blue in the finals of the 200 IM as Deighan came in 13th (1:57.17), Fletcher was 14th (1:57.39) and Carey took 16th (1:58.01).
Kawczenski improved his career-best 50 free time, which ranks seventh in the Bison record books, to 20.96 as he finished sixth in the "A" final of the event. Steadman touched the wall in 21.14 to claim eighth and Peterman and Bennett placed 10th and 16th in the finals, with times of 21.11 and 21.66, respectively.
Sophomore Jeffrey Manning (Bringhurst, Ind./Carroll Jr./Sr. High) was the lone representative for Bucknell in the three-meter diving finals where he placed sixth with a score of 246.60.
The Bison will be back in action tomorrow morning, Feb. 17, when the squad will begin day two of the PL Championships with trials beginning at 10:30 a.m. and finals slated again for 6 p.m.
Team Rankings - Through Event 11
Men - Team Scores
Place School Points
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1 Naval Academy USNA 293
2 US Military Academy ARMY-MR 219
3 Lehigh University LU 137
4 Bucknell University BUCK-MA 133
5 Colgate University COL 88
6 American University AU 54
7 College of the Holy Cross HC 50
7 Lafayette Swimming LAFA 50
