Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Finishes Second at PL Championships for Third Straight Year

Saturday, February 20

Annapolis, Md.

6:00 PM

Bucknell University

PLC - Day 3 Finals

Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Finishes Second at PL Championships for Third Straight Year

2/20/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: TBD

Feb. 20, 2010

Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Thanks to eight top-five finishes on the final day of the Patriot League Championships Saturday at Navy's Lejeune Hall, the Bucknell men's swimming and diving team held onto its position in the team standings and finished in second place for a third consecutive year. Daniel Fletcher, who took second in the 200-yard backstroke, was the Bison's top finisher on Saturday.

Navy, which won its seventh consecutive title, finished the meet with 1,047 points, more than 400 ahead of Bucknell. The Bison were followed by Army (529 points) and Lehigh (427) in the top half of the final team standings.

Fletcher has Bucknell's best finish on Saturday as he led four Bison in the top nine of the 200 back. He timed in at 1 minute, 49.81 seconds, marking his third top-three finish in as many days. He finished third in the 200 IM on Thursday and third in the 100 back on Friday. David Iselin (1:50.65) and Gonzalo DeLeon (1:51.69), who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, gave Bucknell three of the first five finishers.

The Bison were also strong in the 1,650 free with three of the first seven places. Jonathan Podniesinski took fourth in 15:43.90, moving him up to second on Bucknell's all-time list. Luke Trafton, who won the 1,650 free Patriot League title in 2007 and 2008, was sixth, while Matthew Segar was seventh. His time of 15:57.76 ranks him fourth on the Bison career list. Only two other swimmers in program history outside of Podniesinski, Trafton and Segar have completed the 1,650 free in under 16:00.00.

Two days after winning the 50 free to become Bucknell's only champion at this year's Patriot League Championships, Eric Sokolosky challenged for a second title, but came in third in the 100 free. He was less than one second off the pace by winner Aaron Aiken of Navy.

Nathaniel Frye led four scorers in the 200 breast as he took fifth in the event. His prelim time of 2:04.59 placed him fourth on the Bison top-10 list.

Bucknell had only one swimmer in the "A" final of the 200 fly and that was freshman Billy Krause. He placed sixth in the race in 1:52.38. That time was .03 seconds faster than his prelim time and ranks him seventh on the program's top-10 list.

Fletcher and Sokolosky teamed with Christian Treat and Spencer Hallowell to finish second in the 400 free relay. It was the fifth relay contested during the three-day meet and the Bison took second in all five. Fletcher and Sokolosky were each members of four of those relays.

The three-meter diving was also held on Saturday and freshman David Magaro placed fourth in the event with a season-best score of 287.45. That mark was more than 11 points better than his previous best, and was nearly 26 points higher than his prelim tally.

With their third consecutive runner-up finish, Bucknell now has five all-time top-two finishes at the event, with all five coming in the last eight years.

***Following the meet, Bucknell head coach Dan Schinnerer was named the Patriot League Men's Swimming and Diving Coach of the Meet. It is his second career honor, having won the same award in 2008.***

Team Scores
1. Navy - 1047
2. Bucknell - 646
3. Army - 529
4. Lehigh - 427
4. Colgate - 314
6. American - 209
7. Lafayette - 194
8. Holy Cross - 117

New Top-10 Times
1,650 free (2. Jonathan Podniesinski - 15:43.90; 4. Matthew Segar - 15:57.76)
200 back (7. Spencer Hallowell - 1:51.41)
200 breast (4. Nathaniel Frye - 2:04.59)
200 fly (7. Billy Krause - 1:52.38)
3-meter diving (3. David Magaro - 287.45)
400 free relay (3. Fletcher, Treat, Hallowell, Sokolosky - 3:02.91)

Bucknell Results
Brett Carey
200 breast prelims - 12th, 2:09.94
200 breast finals - 12th, 2:09.49

Gonzalo DeLeon
200 back prelims - 4th, 1:51.23
200 back finals - 5th, 1:51.69

Daniel Fletcher
200 back prelims - 5th, 1:51.27
200 back finals - 2nd, 1:49.81

Nathaniel Frye
200 breast prelims - 4th, 2:04.59
200 breast finals - 5th, 2:04.90

Spencer Hallowell
200 back prelims - 9th, 1:52.17
200 back finals - 9th, 1:51.41

Taylor Harris
100 free prelims - 19th, 47.15

David Iselin
200 back prelims - 2nd, 1:51.16
200 back finals - 4th, 1:50.65

Billy Krause
200 fly prelims - 7th, 1:52.41
200 fly finals - 6th, 1:52.38

David Magaro
3-meter diving prelims: 3rd, 261.60
3-meter diving finals: 4th, 287.45

Evan Palumbo
200 breast prelims - 16th, 2:13.77
200 breast finals - 13th, 2:10.01

Jonathan Podniesinski
1,650 free finals - 4th, 15:43.90

Matthew Segar
1,650 free finals - 7th, 15:57.76