Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
La Salle
Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving Upends La Salle, 198-102
12/4/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 4, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Freshman Kristen Purdy (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham Wading River) and sophomore Elizabeth Porcellio (Fairport, N.Y./Penfield) won three events apiece and Bucknell had three scorers in 13 of 14 individual events as the Bison women's swimming and diving team defeated La Salle, 198-102, Saturday afternoon at Kinney Natatorium. Bucknell improved to 5-2 on the season as it closed out its first semester of competition.
Bucknell earned 12 first-place finishes in the 16 events contested on Saturday, and swept the first three spots in four events (200 fly, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM). Senior Molly Goebel (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan), who won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, gave the Bison three multiple winners.
Purdy's victories came in the 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 backstroke as she recorded season-best times in each event. She won the 200 fly by more than 3.5 seconds over teammate Alex Panzarino (Ossining, N.Y./JFK Catholic) in a time of 2:08.65, just .59 seconds shy of 10th on the Bucknell all-time list. Purdy had recorded just one first-place showing all year entering Saturday's meet.
Porcellio won the 100 breast (1:07.01), 200 breast (2:22.36) and the 200 IM (2:08.76). Her aggregate victory time over the runner-up in those three races was nearly 11 seconds. Porcellio added a fourth gold medal to her tally when she helped the 400 free relay team to a victory in the final event of the day. She swam the second leg in 54.25.
Goebel, who now has eight total first-place showings in the 50 and 100 free, continued her outstanding season. She finished the 50 free in 24.19, while her 100 free time was 52.85. Goebel joined Porcellio on the winning 400 free relay squad and also helped the 200 medley relay to a victory, giving her a total of four first-place showings.
Anna Griest (1,000 free) and Kelly Pontecorvo (500 free) recorded Bucknell's other first-place finishes.
The Bison also had strong showings on the diving boards as Morgan Popple (Bear Creek, Pa./James M. Coughlin) scored a career-best 242.78 off the one-meter board to place second. That mark moved her from eighth to fourth on the program's all-time list. Lisa Bolle (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) was third in the same event with a score of 218.78, good for 10th in program history.
Bolle was Bucknell's top finisher off the three-meter board, taking third with a score of 217.13. She moved from eighth on the all-time list to sixth, while Jennifer Kokoska's (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) 197.78 improved upon her career best by nearly 10 points to keep her in ninth place on the same list.
With the win, Bucknell snapped a six-meet losing streak to La Salle. The Bison are now 5-8 all-time against the Explorers. La Salle fell to 3-4 overall this year with the loss.
Bucknell will now be idle until Jan. 15 when it hosts Patriot League opponent Army at Kinney Natatorium.
