Bucknell University Athletics
Emma Levendoski Heads to NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships This Week
3/17/2015 10:12:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell junior Emma Levendoski (Mandeville, La./Mandeville) later this week will become the first Bison female to compete at the NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships. The three-time First Team All-Patriot League selection will swim the backstroke events at NCAAs, which will be held March 19-21 at Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Levendoski will swim the 100-yard backstroke on Friday and the 200 back on Saturday. She is seeded 46th out of 55 swimmers in the 100 back on the latest psych sheet, while she is listed 36th out of 57 swimmers in the 200 back. Prelims on each day of the meet begin at 11 a.m., while the finals are set for 7 p.m.
The school record-holder in both backstroke events, Levendoski was selected to the NCAA Championships based on her 200 back credentials, but also has the opportunity to swim the 100. She is the first Bucknell swimmer – male or female – to earn an NCAA bid since Hall of Famer Jim Harvey in 1988.
The first swimmer in Patriot League history to sweep the backstroke events three consecutive years, Levendoski ranks fourth on the Bison all-time list for conference championships with six. She owns the 100 back school record (53.53) by more than one second over second-place Courtney Warren and the 200 back standard (1:54.48) by nearly four seconds over teammate Ashley Henderson. Both school records were established at last November's Bucknell Invitational.
In addition to owning the Bison backstroke records, Levendoski holds the Patriot League records. She also posted the ECAC Championships meet record in the 200 back a few weeks ago as she became the first Bucknell swimmer to win the event at ECACs since 1997.
Levendoski has excelled in the backstroke since arriving at Bucknell three years ago. The six-time Patriot League champion and 2013 Patriot League Rookie of the Meet has finished in first place 61 times in 78 career backstroke races.
While Levendoski is the first Bison to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships, the Bucknell women's swimming and diving program had a sustained string of excellence at AIAW national championship meets throughout the 1970s and early 1980s where its student-athletes combined to earn 30 All-America citations.
Players Mentioned
