Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Bucknell Men's Swimming & Diving Earns Runner-Up Finish at Patriot League Championships
2/24/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 23, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Bucknell men's swimming and diving head coach Dan Schinnerer was named the Patriot League Men's Coach of the Year on Saturday after helping his squad to its best finish at the Patriot League Championships since 2004. The Bison collected the runner-up trophy with a total of 683.5 points, while Navy took home the title for a fifth consecutive season with 887 points.
The Orange and Blue began the final session of the meet on a high note as sophomore Luke Trafton (Bath, Maine/Morse) captured his second career individual title in the 1,650 free, posting a time of 15 minutes, 34.89 seconds to break the school record he set as a freshman at the league meet in 2007. Bucknell had three more individuals log scoring finishes in this event as sophomore Ben Leboza (Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) came in seventh (16:21.92), junior Patrick Stummer (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) was 11th (16:25.06) and senior Tyler Sowell (Tacoma, Wash./Charles Wright Academy) took 13th (16:33.05).
Senior Joseph Metcalf (Knoxville, Tenn./Philips Exeter Academy (N.H.)) was the runner-up in the 200 breast, improving his ranking in the Bison record book to No. 3 all-time in the preliminaries (2:03.72) before setting a new personal best in the finals with a time of 2:02.82. Senior Bradford Bennett (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) qualified for the "A" final as well, taking fourth in 2:05.45. Also scoring for the Orange and Blue in the 200 breast were sophomore Brett Carey (West Chester, Pa./Malvern Prep) (10th, 2:10.44) and senior Theo Leriotis (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional Senior High) (11th, 2:11.55).
Bucknell re-wrote the program's top-10 for the 200 back as freshman Gonzalo DeLeon (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) posted the No. 3 time on the list in the preliminaries, 1:51.47. He later took third in the final with a time of 1:51.75. Sophomore David Iselin (Potomac, Md./ Churchill) moved up to fourth on the school's top-10 in the preliminaries (1:52.25) and improved upon his personal best as he finished fourth in the finals, reaching the wall in 1:52.24. Sophomore Daniel Fletcher (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) broke into the all-time list for the event with his preliminaries time, 1:53.32, and moved up to eighth after clocking in at 1:52.84 in the finals, good for seventh in the meet. Junior Christopher Amato (East Norwich, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) provided additional points for the Bison, taking 14th with a time of 1:55.56.
Two members of the Orange and Blue reached the "A" final in the 200 fly. Freshman Michael Volpe (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) qualified with a time of 1:53.48, to land seventh in Bucknell history. He placed third in the finals with a time of 1:53.79, while DeLeon was eighth (1:58.28).
In the 100 free, senior John Peterman (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) placed sixth (46.52), classmate Grant Steadman (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) was seventh (46.63) and junior Mark Kawczenski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) finished 16th (47.54).
Junior Jeffrey Manning (Bringhurst, Ind./Carroll Jr./Sr. High), the lone Bison diver to reach the three-meter final, placed eighth with a score of 229.95.
To close out the meet, Bucknell's 400 free relay squad of Fletcher, Peterman, Kawczenski and Steadman posted a runner-up showing with a time of 3:05.04, good for eighth on the program's top-10 list.
