Nicholson and Treat Break School Records, Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Still Third at PL Championships

Friday, February 22

Lewisburg, Pa.

6:00 PM

Bucknell University

Patriot League Championships Finals

Nicholson and Treat Break School Records, Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Still Third at PL Championships

2/23/2013 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: TBD

Feb. 22, 2013

LEWISBURG, Pa. - For the second consecutive night Bucknell junior Mike Nicholson broke one of his own records and posted the best individual finish for a Bison at the Patriot League Championships. Nicholson, who broke his own school record en route to a third-place showing in the 200 IM on Thursday, broke his own school record in the 400 IM Friday on his way to a runner-up finish.

Bucknell finished day two of the three-day Patriot League Championships at Kinney Natatorium in third place in the team standings behind nine-time champion Navy and Army.

"We are doing well," said Bison head coach Dan Schinnerer. "It's a young group that is learning. There are some things we still have to do better."

Nicholson, who has six career top-three finishes, including a first-place finish in the 400 IM in 2011 and a second-place showing a year ago, posted a time of 3:51.31 in the 400 IM on Friday. That shaved .78 off his previous record and 3.01 off his prelim time. Only gold medalist Justin Vagts and Nicholson swam faster than 3:57.00 in the final. No other Bison has ever gone faster than 3:56.00.

A two-time First Team All-Patriot League selection, Nicholson owns school records in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 fly.

Just two spots behind Nicholson in the 400 IM was teammate Billy Krause. It marked his best career finish in the event after placing fifth once and sixth twice.

Overall, Bucknell set 12 new program top-10 marks on Friday. Among them were four in the 200 free, which was a strong event for the Bison with three "A" finalists.

Erik Heinemann (5th), Matt Hadley (6th) and Cameron James (8th) combined to 38 valuable points in the 200 free. Each also recorded a program top-10 time. Hadley's 1:39.69 in the prelims was the fastest of the day by a Bison and ranked fourth in program history.

"An example of guys stepping up today was when three guys advanced to the 200 free finals," said Schinnerer. "We lost All-Patriot Leaguers Matt Segar and Eric Sokolosky to graduation last year and Matt, Erik and Cameron all stepped up and made the finals. Just to show how far they have come, Matt was on our ECAC team last year and Cameron was in high school. It was an awesome performance."

Christian Treat also snuck onto the 200 free top-10 list with a 1:40.77 leading off the 800 free relay that finished third and posted the No. 5 time in program history.

Treat joined Nicholson in breaking a school record on Friday as he surpassed Michael Guskey's 10-year-old 100 breast mark in the prelims. Treat was third in the prelims with a time of 55.02. He finished an still-impressive fourth in 55.67 in the finals. It marked Treat's best-ever PL finish in the 100 breast after placing fifth in 2011.

Steve Grune (10th) was Bucknell's top finisher in the 100 fly and Hadley (11th) topped all Bison in the 100 back.

The Patriot League Championships will conclude Saturday. Prelims are slated for 10:30 a.m., while the finals will commence at 6 p.m. Both sessions will air live on Bison Vision. Results are available via BucknellBison.com.

Team Scores
1. Navy - 655
2. Army - 436
3. Bucknell - 359.5
4. Lehigh - 275.5
5. American - 181
6. Colgate - 145
7. Lafayette - 120
8. Holy Cross - 99

New Top-10 Times
400 IM (1. Mike Nicholson - 3:51.31)
100 fly (7. Steve Grune - 49.96; 8. Bryce Suchomel - 50.24)
200 free (4. Matt Hadley - 1:39.69; 6. Erik Heinemann - 1:39.80; 8. Cameron James - 1:40.56; 9. Christian Treat - 1:40.77 (relay split))
100 breast (1. Christian Treat - 55.02; 3. Ben Seketa - 56.38)
200 medley relay (10. Suchomel, Treat, Nicholson, Grune - 1:32.31)
800 free relay (5. Treat, Heinemann, James, Hadley - 6:43.62)