Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving Opens 2012-13 Season Saturday at UMBC
9/27/2012 8:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Sept. 27, 2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. -The Bucknell women's swimming and diving team will open its 2012-13 season Saturday at UMBC. Start time for the unscored meet is 1 p.m. at UMBC Natatorium. It is the sixth consecutive season the Bison and Retrievers have kicked off the campaign against each other with this meet that traditionally features different distances than the teams swim the rest of the year.
Saturday's meet is the first of three straight road competitions to open the campaign for the Bison. Bucknell will then go on the road just once after Nov. 16 as it prepares to host the 2013 Patriot League Championships at Kinney Natatorium. It will mark the sixth time the facility has hosted the conference championships.
Bucknell will be idle for three weeks following Saturday's meet before it travels to Connecticut Oct. 20 for its first scored meet of the year.
Below is a more detailed season outlook for Bucknell:
The trio of Bucknell, Colgate and Navy continued its monopoly on the top three spots in the Patriot League standings in 2012, and not much is expected to change in 2013 as those three squads were once again picked to finish 1-2-3 in the league's preseason poll. The Mids were picked first, followed by the Raiders and then the Bison in the No. 3 position they have finished in four of the last five years.
"I don't feel like at any point last year we had all the pieces in place running at even 90 percent," commented Bucknell seventh-year head coach Dan Schinnerer. "One person would get better and another would get hurt. Our closest to being at 100 percent was our mid-November invite, but even then we were pulling people out of events."
Schinnerer hopes to close the gap on Navy and Colgate, and possibly even pass at least one of them in the final Patriot League standings, and it is certainly an attainable goal. The Bison lost only one point scorer (Kaitlyn Sweeney) from last year's conference meet and all seven All-Patriot League selections return with an additional year of experience.
Bucknell will be a much more veteran team in 2012-13 with six seniors, eight juniors and a talented 10-person sophomore class that had quite an impact last year with four All-Patriot League selections.
"We had more talent than we showed last year," commented Schinnerer. "If we can do a better job translating what we have and maxing out potential we are in position for a pretty good season."
Sprint Freestyle: Lauren Perry was fourth in both the 50 and 100 free at the Patriot League Championships and became one of two Bison named First Team All-Patriot League in 2012. She and diver classmate Tara Boyle became the first freshmen student-athletes from Bucknell to be named First Team All-Patriot League since Laura Goeller in 2004. Perry ranks in the top 10 in program history in three events (50 free - 8th, 100 free - 9th, 200 free - 2nd).
"Lauren did an awesome job last year and has the ability to be a major player at the conference level in the sprint free races," said Schinnerer, the two-time Patriot League Men's Swimming Coach of the Year.
Junior Emily Wright, a Second Team All-Patriot League choice as a freshman in 2011, is third in school history in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free. She claimed seventh in the 50 free and ninth in the 100 free at last year's Patriot League meet, capping a difficult season with a solid performance.
"Everything that could have gone right for Emily her freshman year did," recalled Schinnerer. "Then, everything that could have gone wrong for her as a sophomore did, and she still had a decent year. She personified our season where we couldn't ever get clicking on all cylinders. If we can get her back to the position she was in her freshman year, that would be great. If we can split the difference, that will still be pretty good."
Junior Kaitlyn Utkewicz, who has scored in the 50 free at the conference meet each of her first two seasons, will add depth. Additionally, Schinnerer expects Marisa Taddeo, who focused on the backstroke events her first three years, to possibly see some time at sprint free.
Mid-Freestyle: Schinnerer has plenty of options at the mid-distance freestyle as he values versatile swimmers and he can pull people from either the sprint or distance events to compete at the 200 and 500 lengths. Perry just missed a school record en route to a seventh-place finish at Patriots, while classmate Stephanie Koziol showed promise despite competing in other events during the postseason.
Senior co-captain and three-time All-Patriot League selection Elizabeth Porcellio ranks No. 3 in school history in the 200, but is so versatile she is often used in other events.
Schinnerer sees junior All-Patriot Leaguer Kelly Pontecorvo, who ranks No. 2 on Bucknell's all-time 500 free list, mainly focusing on longer distances, but she will occasionally swim the 200.
Freshmen Leanne Archer and Alanna Nawrocki have already shown the ability to contribute.
Distance Freestyle: The Bison are a little more set at the distance free events with Pontecorvo, the school record holder in both the 1,000 and 1,650 leading the way. A two-time All-PL pick, Pontecorvo earned the silver medal in the 1,650 a year ago in addition to a fifth-place finish in the 500 free. She has now scored in five individual events at Patriots during her career.
"Kelly continues to do the things that will lead to continued success," praised Schinnerer, who has led the Bison to a 33-23-1 dual meet record since his arrival in Lewisburg in the summer of 2006. "Her distances were outstanding last year and she continues to chip away at the 200 and 500. She is going to be someone we lean on heavily in those events."
Junior Melissa Besman and senior Anna Griest have been consistent scorers in the distances. Besman is listed on the top-10 lists for the 500, 1,000 and 1,650, while Griest is fourth all-time in both the 1,000 and 1,650.
Schinnerer also sees senior Kelly Purcell as an option once she returns from an offseason shoulder surgery.
Backstroke: Bucknell has plenty of experience coming back at backstroke, headlined by junior Second Team All-Patriot Leaguer Jennifer Brennan. She posted three top-10 showings at last year's Patriot League Championships, finishing seventh in both the 100 and 200 back and 10th in the 200 IM.
"This is one area we have a lot of people coming back," said Schinnerer. "We also have some great additions with Ashley Henderson, Rachel Brekovsky and Emma Levendoski, so it could be one of our deeper areas."
Sophomore Sydney Schroeder, Taddeo and junior Kristen Purdy will continue to add depth. Each scored in at least one backstroke event last year at Patriots, but Schinnerer expects some improvement from them so they can jump from consolations to the finals.
Breaststroke: "This is an area where on paper we should be strong," predicted Schinnerer. "This area was a personification of the challenges we faced last year. As a group, we have great potential, but it didn't really translate because of illness, injury and a number of other factors. But with Emily Norton, Liz Porcellio, Morgan Oxley, Gina Gautieri, Meg Lattimer and freshman Emily Gwynn we have a slew of girls who are in a competitive range with their times.
"We have a lot of potential. If we can harness that, we can go from having one finalist and one consolation to doubling our point totals with just solid improvement."
Four different Bison scored in breaststroke events at last year's Patriot League Championships with Norton posting the most success. She finished seventh (100 breast) and fifth (200 breast). Senior co-captain Oxley was 13th in the 100 breast, while Porcellio (11th) and Lattimer (13th) scored in the 200. All four swimmers rank in the top 10 in program history in at least one breaststroke event.
Additionally, junior Alyssa Rollando should make an impact and add depth in the breaststroke events.
Butterfly: A number of familiar names are in the mix at fly, including Porcellio, Koziol, Utkewicz, Brennan and Purdy. Utkewicz (100 fly), Koziol (200 fly) and Purdy (200 fly) each scored in butterfly events at last year's Patriot League Championships.
Many of the above names focus on other events, so Schinnerer will have to be creative when putting his lineup together. In addition to the veterans, he will be able to turn to freshman Lyndsey Marcheskie.
IM: "In both IMs we have a pretty solid group coming back and if we just put it together, our point output at the conference meet will go up," said Schinnerer.
Leading the IM group is Porcellio, who ranks second on the program's 200 IM list and fourth on its 400 IM ledger. She finished third (400 IM) and eighth (200 IM) at last year's conference meet and has scored in the 200 IM each of her first three years.
Schinnerer likes to recruit versatile swimmers and Porcellio is the epitome of that as she competed in the IM, free, breast and fly a year ago. She ranks in the top 10 in school history in six different events.
Koziol had tremendous success at last year's Patriot League Championships, scoring in the 200 back and 200 fly, in addition to the 400 IM, in which she placed second, one spot ahead of Porcellio.
Schinnerer also expects Besman, Griest, Lattimer, Brennan, Purcell and Purdy to contribute in the IMs, while freshmen Henderson and Nawrocki are also likely strong contributors.
Relays: In 2011-12, Bucknell had to replace a number of swimmers that were a large part of their relay teams. This year, however, the Bison return their relays almost completely intact.
"Our relays were not particularly competitive at the conference meet last year," said Schinnerer. "We should make some progress and that will be a good snapshot of our season as a whole. If our relays are more competitive where they are in the top two or three in the league, then that bodes well for our success overall."
Diving: A trio of freshman divers last year - Tara Boyle, Katie Hetherington, Tori Molchany - gave Bucknell one of the best diving groups in the conference. Boyle claimed the first-ever Patriot League title by a Bison diver, while Hetherington set program records off both boards, including the one-meter standard in her first career meet. All three rank in the top 10 in school annals off both boards.
Joining the now-sophomores is senior Lisa Bolle and freshmen Lara Curtis and Emma Miller. Bolle owns the No. 9 score in program history off the three-meter board.
"The three freshmen did an outstanding job last year," praised Schinnerer. "We have six divers who are all solid to awesome and we are excited to see them continue to develop."
