Warren's Victory in 100 Back Leads Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving on Second Day of PL Championships

Friday, February 19

Annapolis, Md.

6:00 PM

Bucknell University

PLC - Day 2 Finals

Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving Continues to Hold Onto Second Place at Bucknell Open

Warren's Victory in 100 Back Leads Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving on Second Day of PL Championships

2/19/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

By: TBD

Feb. 19, 2010

Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Bucknell's Courtney Warren won the 100-yard backstroke title for the second time in three years to lead the Bucknell women's swimming and diving team Friday during the second day of competition at the Patriot League Championships. Warren's winning time was a new school record, and she also helped the 200 medley relay squad break a school record.

The Bison remained in second place in the team standings, behind only host Navy. The Mids are running away from the pack as they have 592 points and the Bison have 451. Third-place Colgate, the two-time defending champion, is in third with 396. Bucknell tacked on 16 points to its lead over the Raiders, which was 39 points after day one of the three-day meet.

A total of three school records were broken on Friday. In addition to Warren in the 100 back and the 200 medley relay, Lauren Russell led seven Bison scorers in the 400 individual medley with a school-record time of 4 minutes, 22.58 seconds, shaving more than three seconds off Macey Keath's previous standard.

Warren was the story of the day for the Bison, though. The senior was the last Bucknell student-athlete to earn a Patriot League title when she won the 100 back two years ago at Navy's Lejeune Hall. In the same facility on Friday, she swam the distance in 54.55, more than 2.5 seconds better than her winning time from 2008 and the fastest in Patriot League Championships history. The time was also .47 better than her best time entering the day, which already placed her in the top spot on Bucknell's all-time list. Warren won Friday's race by an amazing 1.72 seconds over runner-up Lia Kunnapas from Colgate.

Like Warren in the 100 back, the Bison dominated the 400 IM as they took four of the first eight spots, and seven of 13 overall. The top six Bucknell finishers each recorded times that placed them in, or moved them up, the program's top-10 list. The school record-holder entering the day, Keath finished one spot behind Russell in 4:24.68, one second better than her previous fastest. Abigail Paules (4:28.57) and Kelly Purcell (4:30.17) claimed seventh and eighth, respectively. They now rank fifth and seventh, respectively, on the Bison top-10 list. Sinead O'Dwyer, Kristen Bucaria and Anna Griest also scored in the event with top-13 showings Friday.

Keath was the lone Bison to have top-five showings in two events Friday as she claimed third in the 100 breast, her fifth top-five finish at the Patriot League Championships the last two years.

Megan Mongan matched her 2009 showing in the 200 free as she finished fifth in the event in 1:52.85. She was the only Bison in the top 10 in the final standings.

Molly Goebel, who finished second in the 50 free on Thursday, accumulated another top-five showing with a fifth-place finish in the 100 fly.

Abigail Atkinson, who was fifth in the 100 back, was the only Bison to participate on both the record-setting 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay teams. The medley relay shaved .14 seconds off the school record as it finished second to Navy. The free relay finished third in 7:38.08 (No. 3 on Bison top-10 list), behind only Navy and Colgate.

The Patriot League Championships will wrap up on Saturday. Like the first two days, the prelims will take place at 10:30 a.m., while the finals will kick off at 6 p.m. The Bison will be going for their eighth top-two finish in the last 10 years, but their first since 2007.

Team Scores
1. Navy - 592
2. Bucknell – 451
3. Colgate – 396
4. Army – 218
5. Lehigh – 208
6. American – 207
7. Lafayette – 129
8. Holy Cross - 116

New Top-10 Times
400 IM (1. Lauren Russell – 4:22.58; 2. Macey Keath – 4:24.68; 5. Abigail Paules – 4:28.57;7. Kelly Purcell – 4:30.17; 9. Sinead O'Dwyer – 4:30.48; 10. Kristen Bucaria – 4:31.82)
100 fly (6. Laura Twichell – 57.54; 8. Kaitlyn Sweeney – 58.04)
100 breast (5. Elizabeth Porcellio – 1:06.40; 6. Morgan Oxley – 1:06.81)
100 back (1. Courtney Warren – 54.55)
200 medley relay (1. Warren, Keath, Goebel, Atkinson – 1:43.11)
800 free relay (3. Atkinson, Mongan, Porcellio, Chakany – 7:38.08)