Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Bucknell Men Move Up to Second at Patriot League Swimming & Diving Championship
2/20/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 20, 2009
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LEWISBURG, Pa. - It was another record-setting day at Kinney Natatorium, with league and school records crashing left and right on day two of the Patriot League Swimming & Diving Championships. The Bucknell men's team moved up a spot into second place with a strong day of swimming that saw Luke Trafton (Bath, Maine/Morse), Mark Kawczenski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) and two relay teams shatter school records.
With one day of competition remaining, the Bison men have 413 points, trailing only juggernaut Navy with 682. Army is third with 382 points, followed by Lehigh (233), Colgate (229), Lafayette (139), American (108) and Holy Cross (87).
On a night of highlights, the Bison saved their best for last, obliterating the school record in the 800-yard freestyle relay by a whopping 6.43 seconds. The foursome of Trafton, Daniel Fletcher (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove), Matthew Segar (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Ben Leboza (Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) finished second to Navy in a time of 6:42.02. The previous standard of 6:48.45 had stood since 1987 and was the oldest swimming mark in the Bucknell record book. Trafton's blazing 1:38.90 sent the Bison on their way.
Bucknell began the evening finals session with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay in another school-record time of 1:30.50. Kawczenski, a senior, teamed with sophomore Michael Volpe (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) and freshmen Nathaniel Frye (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area) and Eric Sokolosky (Branford, Conn./Branford) on the new record.
Bucknell's best chance at an individual gold medal on Friday came in the 100 backstroke, where Kawczenski was the top seed coming out of the morning prelims. Kawczenski, who won the 50 free a day earlier, was the two-time defending champion in the 100 back, but Navy's Andrew Hetzner came from behind down the stretch and out-touched him by just .46 seconds. Kawczenski's time of 49.15 was a personal best by .36 seconds and lowered his own school record.
The Bison earned major points in the 100 back, with a total of seven swimmers scoring points in that event. In addition to Kawczenski's silver medal, DeLeon placed fourth in 51.14 (the sixth-fastest time in school history and a half-second faster than his previous PR), freshman Taylor Harris (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took sixth, David Iselin (Potomac, Md./Churchill) was 10th, Spencer Hallowell (Bath, Maine/Morse) finished 12th, Thomas Brown (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) placed 13th and Christopher Amato (East Norwich, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) took 16th.
In the 400 individual medley, Trafton broke the school record in the prelims with a time of 3:59.98, then crushed that mark in the finals with a swim of 3:56.81. Trafton, who became the first Bucknell swimmer to go under four minutes in that event, finished fifth. Freshman Jonathan Podniesinski (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) also made the finals and placed eighth. His prelim time of 4:03.18 is No. 2 in school history behind Trafton. Another freshman, Brendan Smith (New Hartford, N.Y./New Hartford Senior), clocked a 4:03.58 in a runner-up finish in the consolation final. That time was also under the previous school record, set by John Hoffman in 2005, and now stands No. 3 all time.
In the 200 free, Fletcher (1:40.80) and Segar (1:41.06) finished 6-7 in the finals. Both set PRs in the prelims, with Segar's 1:40.46 second-fastest in school history and Fletcher's 1:40.60 third-fastest.
Frye had a great swim in the 100 breaststroke. Bucknell's lone point-scorer in that event, Frye squeezed into the finals with just .05 seconds to spare, then he chopped .68 seconds off his morning swim with a time of 57.20, good for fourth-place points for the Bison.
Volpe was the lone finalist in the 100 butterfly, and he finished eighth in a time of 57.66.
The Patriot League Championships record fell in all but one event on Friday night. Navy won six of the seven events to stretch its lead to a commanding 269 points heading into Saturday's final day of competition.
