Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Swimming & Diving Through the Decades, Presented by Geisinger
11/9/2020 11:33:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The fortunes of physical education at Bucknell – from an academic, recreational and varsity intercollegiate perspective – took a significant leap with the completion of Davis Gym in 1939. But by the mid-1950s, the facility was already in need of some expansion. As part of the university's "Second Century Development Program," major renovations to Davis were completed in the fall of 1956. A brand new façade was built, behind which stood a new spacious lobby with new ticket booths; eight new offices for the athletic director, coaches and physical education staffs; a second-floor lounge; a classroom with seating for 50; and new locker rooms for visiting teams.
And there was one more noteworthy addition to the Davis Gym space: the Freas-Rooke Swimming Pool.
Dedicated on Oct. 19, 1956, the new aquatics facility was built at a cost of $300,000 and was named for its donors, A. Guy Freas and Robert L. Rooke. The pool was state-of-the art at the time, with sand filters and chemical treatments keeping the 240,000 gallons of water clean and clear, and ample deck space allowing for classroom instruction.
The opening of the Freas-Rooke Pool paved the way for a varsity swimming and diving team at Bucknell. The program debuted in 1956-57, with more than 60 students answering coach Bob Latour's call for varsity tryouts. Latour, who had been a teacher and swimming coach at Bethlehem Central High School in New York, came to Bucknell in the spring of 1956 as a phys ed instructor, and soon after he was also tabbed to be the school's first varsity swim coach. It didn't take long for his new program to get rolling, and for exuberant crowds to routinely pack the Freas-Rooke grandstand.
Bucknell went 1-3 in that first varsity season, with the initial win coming against Delaware in the final dual of the season. That was followed by two 6-2 campaigns, and then the program joined the Middle Atlantic Conference in 1959-60, where it promptly won the league championship in year one. Bucknell spent 15 seasons in the MAC and finished first 11 times and second four times, and then the Bison moved to the East Coast Conference in 1974-75 and won championships in their first five seasons in that league.
Fueled by a host of Hall-of-Fame caliber swimmers in the 1960s, Bucknell swam at the NCAA College Division Championships, and it won the national championship in 1964 before finishing third a year later. The 1964 squad brought home from NCAAs 21 medals and two relay plaques, and that remains Bucknell's only team national championship.
Latour stepped down as head coach after the 1967-68 season to become Bucknell's director of athletics. He left with an 83-31 dual record and six MAC titles, and amazingly he is one of only five head coaches in the 64-year history of Bison men's swimming. Dick Russell succeeded Latour, kicking off a 26-year run as head coach. In 1994 Lynn Kachmarik became one of the first women ever to coach a Division I men's team. Jerry Foley served as head coach from 1998-2006 and led the Bison to a Patriot League title in 2003 – their first year in the sparkling new Kinney Natarorium – and Dan Schinnerer is now in his 15th season as head coach.
Over the course of this week, Schinnerer will be joined by many of the stars of the past who helped shape the history of the Bison men's swimming & diving program. Special thanks to Geisinger for sponsoring the series.
1950s & 1960s
We wrap up our look back through the history of the Bison men's swimming and diving program with a trip back to the team's origins in the '50s and '60s. As mentioned above, Bob Latour didn't need long to build a winning program. In less than four years, Bucknell went from not even having a swimming pool on campus to winning the 1960 Middle Atlantic Conference title at Freas-Rooke Pool by just three points over defending-champion Lehigh (in fact, the top five teams in that meet were separated by only nine points). Hall-of-Famers Bill Dearstyne and Bill Dorr were two of the stars of that squad, even as sophomores. They helped set the stage for a decade of the 1960s that saw Bucknell win six more MAC titles along with three runner-up finishes. The Bison swam to even greater acclaim in 1963-64, when they captured the very first NCAA College Division Championship at Grove City ... and by a wide margin. It was projected to be a close meet, but Bucknell's 83 points easily outdistanced runner-up East Carolina with 50. Hall-of-Famers Jerry Thimme (golds in 200 free, 1650 free and 400 free relay) and Jim Smigie (golds in 200 fly and 400 medley relay) were two of the catalysts as Bucknell submergered the rest of the 39-team field. The Bison finished third at the NCAA meet the following year, with Smigie repeating as 200 fly and 400 medley relay champion and Fred Woertman sweeping the two backstroke events while also leading off the winning medley relay. Dearstyne, Smigie and Thimmee are three of our distinguished guests on today's panel, along with Stu Berelson '59, Bob Buys '59 P'84, Bob Erdahl '60 and David Landes '69. Berelson and Buys were both members of the very first Bucknell team in 1956-67. Buys captained the 1958-59 team and won the 200 back in 14 of the 19 dual meets in which he competed. Erdahl was captain a year later, and he finished first or second in 16 of his 20 200 fly races. Dearstyne was a two-year captain who won six MAC individual goals medals. He swept the 100 and 200 back in three consecutive seasons, and he also won a pair of gold medals with the 400 medley relay. In 1960, Dearstyne won the 100 back at the Eastern Seaboard Championships. In addition to his national titles, Smigie was a seven-time MAC individual champion, including three straight in both the 100 and 200 fly. He also won the 200 IM as a senior and claimed three more gold medals on relays. Thimme was a five-time MAC individual champion, winning the 200 free three times and the 500 free twice. He was also a part of two champion relays. Landes was a two-year team captain at the end of the decade, when he won six MAC relay gold medals, including four in the 400 free relay. He was a College Division All-American as part of 400 and 800 free relay units in 1968.
1970s
The Bison men's swimming and diving team competed in 10 conference championship meets in the 1970s. They finished first in nine of them and second in the other. It's hard to be much more dominant than that. Dick Russell had just taken over for Bob Latour prior to the 1968-69 season, and he led Bucknell to the Middle Atlantic Conference title in his first season. In the 1970 MAC Championships, the Bison were edged out by Lehigh for first place. The following season, Bucknell toppled the Engineers in the dual meet and then beat them by 30 points at the MAC Championships to claim the first of what would become nine conference titles in a row. Bucknell posted a perfect 11-0 dual record in 1973-74 -- the only undefeated season in program history -- and then in 1974-75 the team moved to the East Coast Conference and promptly won five more championships in a row. The 1970s was filled with star power, as Hall-of-Famers Greg Olson '70, Bill Drake '72, Peter O'Keeffe '72, Bob Richards '74, Steve Winings '74, Roger Schwanhausser '75 and Geoff Miller '76 all competed in this decade. O'Keeffe and Winings were both NCAA Division I All-Americans in 1971, and then join Jim Harvey as the only Bison so honored. Four of those HOFers are panelists on today's discussion -- O'Keefe, Richards, Winings and Schwanhausser -- and they are joined by John Lyons '75 and Dan Richards '78. In addition to his All-America honor, O'Keeffe was a six-time MAC individual champion and four-time relay champion. He held eight school records at the time of his graduation. Bob Richards is considered the finest diver in Bucknell history. He swept the 1 and 3-meter events at the 1973 and 1974 MAC Championships, and his school records in both events in the six-dive format were never broken. Winings finished in eighth place in the 50 free at the 1971 NCAA Championships, the highest finish ever by a Bucknell swimmer. He won six MAC gold medals, including four straight in the 50 free to become the first swimmer in league history to win an event four years in a row. He also claimed seven relay golds, including four in a row in the 400 free relay. Lyons captained the 1974-75 team that won the ECC crown in its first season in the new league. He was a 10-time conference placewinner, with a best finish of third in the 200 fly at the 1972 MAC Championships. Schwanhausser was a four-time individual conference champion, with three coming in the 200 IM, and he was also part of 10 league-champion relay teams, including four straight in the 800 free relay. He graduated with school records in the 100 back and 200 IM. His son, Stephen '03, also swam for the Bison and set school records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, making them the only father-son combo in any sport at Bucknell to have held school records. Dan Richards captained the 1977-78 team that stretched the streak to eight league titles in a row. He won the 1,000 free five times in dual meet competition and scored at the ECC Championships all four years, highlighted by a silver medal in the 1,650 free in 1978. He broke the school records in the 1,000 and 1,650 in that race.
1980s
Dick Russell boasted strong teams throughout the 1980s, and the headliner was the 1986-87 squad that ended a seven-year championship drought by winning the East Coast Conference title in Easton, Pa. The star of that show was Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey, who many consider to be the top swimmer in Bucknell history. At the 1987 ECCs, Harvey won the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free and he also anchored three winning relays to lead the Bison to the team title. Harvey, who won 11 ECC individual gold medals and eight relays in his brilliant career, also twice qualified for the NCAA Championships and was an honorable mention All-American in 1988. The program also produced an Olympian in the '80s. David Morley, who won six ECC gold medals in the backstroke events, swam for his native Bahamas in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In addition to the 1987 league title, the Bison also earned runner-up honors six times in the decade. Harvey and Morely are two of the alumni back with us for this edition, along with Pete Edelman '85, John Garofolo '90 and Rick Hutchinson '91. Edelman captained the 1984-85 team and was part of a gold medal-winning 800 free relay unit at the ECC Championships that year. Even 32 years after his graduation, Harvey still ranks among Bucknell's top 10 performers in six individual events, and his 100 free record is still on the board. Garofolo was a team captain in 1989-90 and graduated with three ECC gold medals, in the 100 fly in 1990 and the 400 medley relay in 1988 and 1990. He was also the ECC Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior. Hutchinson captained the 1990-91 team and won the Dearstyne-Dorr Award as team MVP that year.
1990s
The 1990s was a decade of change for the Bison men's squad. In 1990-91, the team moved into the newly formed Patriot League and promptly finished third in the inaugural Patriot League Championships. Legendary head coach Dick Russell retired after the 1993-94 season, and Lynn Kachmark took over for four seasons before handing the reins to former Army assistant coach Jerry Foley. In Kachmarik's first season in charge in 1994-95, the Bison finished a perfect 9-0 in duals, and they were 31-9 in her four seasons with four solid third-place finishes at the conference meet. One of the top swimmers in school history competed during the '90s in Hall-of-Famer Jay Gross '93, who won eight career conference titles, included three each in the 50 free and 100 fly. He was the Patriot League Co-Swimmer of the Meet in both 1992 and 1993. Gross still ranks No. 2 all-time in the 100 free, trailing only fellow Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey, whose record of 44.37 has stood since 1988. Gross is the only Bison ever to come with a half-second of Harvey's record. Gross is one of the guests on today's chat, along with Don Steenson '92, Steve Droste '93, Rick Steenson '95, Scott Woodworth '98 and Alex Johnson '99. Don Steenson graduated with six school records, and 28 years later he is still eighth all-time in the 100 back. He will forever hold the Freas-Rooke Pool record in the 100 back. He was a four-time Patriot League individual champion, winning twice each in the 100 and 200 back, and he also captured three gold medals with relays. Droste won three individual and three relay gold medals at the PL Championships, all coming in 1993 when he was named Co-Swimmer of the Meet with his teammate Gross. Rick Steenson won two individual titles and four relay titles at the PL Championships, and he still ranks seventh all-time at Bucknell in the 200 fly. Woodworth won league titles in the 100 back in 1997 and the 200 back in 1998, and he was the 1997 PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, and he was named Third Team Academic All-American in 1998. Johnson captured five total PL gold medals, three individual and two with relays, and was a four-time All-PL honoree. He was also the PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1999.
2010s
Navy won every Patriot League Men's Swimming and Diving Championship during the 2010s, but the Bison were strong contenders throughout the decade. Bucknell finished between second and fourth in the team standings each year, and after the 2010 meet Dan Schinnerer was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for the second time. Bucknell swimmers have never been faster. In fact, 11 of the 14 individual school records and all five relay marks were broken during the 2010s, often multiple times. One of the longest-standing records in team history went down at the 2019 PL Championships at Kinney Natatorium, when Charlie McFarland eclipsed Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey's 31-year-old record in the 50-yard freestyle. Harvey swam a 20.17 at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis in 1988, and that held up until McFarland went 20.10 in 2019. Other notable record-setters include Louis Behnen, who broke the 200 and 500 free records on back-to-back days at the 2016 PL Championships at Navy; two-time PL Swimmer of the Meet Chris Devlin, who set records in both backstroke and both IM events (he now ranks No. 2 behind Matt McGoey in the 200 IM); Chadd Cummings, who lowered the team marks in both breaststroke events at the 2019 PL meet; and Mike Nicholson, who graduated with records in the 200 breast and 100 and 200 butterfly and still holds both fly marks. Nicholson '14, Devlin '18 and McFarland '19 are among the six panelists on our first chat of the week, joining Eric Sokolosky '12, Billy Krause '13 and Christian Treat '13. Sokolosky was a four-time All-Patriot League honoree who won the PL title in the 50 free in 2010 and the ECAC gold medal in teh 100 free in 2010 and 2012. Krause was also a four-time All-PL honoree who still ranks in the top 10 in team history in the 200 fly, 500 free and 400 IM. Treat was not only a top-notch swimmer for the Bison, but he was the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year three times. Treat formerly held school records in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM, and he now ranks second, third and fourth respectively. He helped the Bison 800 free relay team to an ECAC title in 2011. In addition to his school records, Nicholson was a three-time conference champion, capturing the 400 IM in 2011 and 2014 and the 200 IM in 2014. He also won ECAC golds in the 200 breast and 400 IM in 2014. Devlin captured six career Patriot League gold medals, including three in a row in the 200 back. He also won the 400 IM twice and the 100 back once. In addition to his two PL Swimmer of the Meet honors, Devlin was the league's Rookie of the Meet in 2015 and he competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. In addition to breaking Harvey's 31-year-old record in the 50 free, McFarland also helped set school records in the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 and 400 free relays (all but the 400 free relay still stand). He is also Bucknell's fourth-fastest performer in the 100 breast and ninth-fastest in the 100 free.
2000s
There was a whole lot going on during the decade of the 2000s for the Bison men's swimming and diving team. First and foremost, the 2002-03 academic year will go down as one of the most memorable in program history. The year started with the opening of the beautiful new Kinney Natatorium. The first official meet was the Bucknell Sprint Invitational in early November, and then in February the Bison not only hosted the Patriot League Championships in Kinney for the first time, the men's and women's teams both captured championships. The men's squad had never before finished higher than third since the Patriot League debuted in 1990-91, but on this magical weekend coach Jerry Foley's squad outswam runner-up and defending champion Navy by 68.5 points. Freshman Mark Kretzer clinched the victory with a win in the 200 butterfly in the final individual event of the meet. The Bison finished second at the conference meet the following year, and then after Dan Schinnerer was introduced as head coach prior to the 2006-07 season, Bucknell finished third-second-second in his first three seasons to close out the decade. Two school swimming records set in the 2000s are still in the books today, and both are held by distance specialist Luke Trafton. He owns the Bucknell marks in the 1,000 free and 1,650 free (both set in the same race at the 2009 PL Championships at Kinney Natatorium. Trafton also broke the 500 free record at the same meet, but he is now the second-fastest performer in that event after Louis Behnen bettered his time in 2016. One of Bucknell's all-time best divers also competed in the 2000s in Adam Freeman, who still owns the school record on the one-meter board for six optionals, and on the one and three-meter boards for 11 dives. Freeman '06, Kretzer '06 and Trafton '10 are two of the alumni joining us on today's chat, along with Stephen Schwanhausser '03, Todd Bauer '06 and Mark Kawczenski '09. Schwanhausser graduated with school records in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. His father, Roger Schwanhausser '75, is in the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame, and they are the only father-son combination in Bucknell history in any sports to have held school records. Bauer was a four-time All-Patriot League honoree and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as a senior. In addition to his school diving records, Freeman was the Patriot League and ECAC champion in the one-meter competitions in 2002. He was named Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year twice and was also a two-time Academic All-District choice. In addition to his meet-clinching win in the 200 fly in 2003, Kretzer also captured a PL gold medal in the 100 back the following year. He was a four-time All-Patriot League selection and the league's top point-scorer in the Class of 2006, and he is now in his fifth season as head coach at Saint Peter's. Kawczenski was a three-time Patriot League individual champion, claiming the 100 back twice and the 50 free once, and he was also part of three PL champion relays. A four-time All-Patriot Leaguer and the Christy Mathewson Award winner as the top athlete in his class, Kawczenski graduated with the school record in the 100 back, and today he ranks third all-time in that event and the 50 free. The record-setting Trafton won two Patriot League gold medals in the mile and another in the 500 free. He was the 2007 Patriot League Rookie of the Meet, and he earned four All-PL citations.
And there was one more noteworthy addition to the Davis Gym space: the Freas-Rooke Swimming Pool.
Dedicated on Oct. 19, 1956, the new aquatics facility was built at a cost of $300,000 and was named for its donors, A. Guy Freas and Robert L. Rooke. The pool was state-of-the art at the time, with sand filters and chemical treatments keeping the 240,000 gallons of water clean and clear, and ample deck space allowing for classroom instruction.
The opening of the Freas-Rooke Pool paved the way for a varsity swimming and diving team at Bucknell. The program debuted in 1956-57, with more than 60 students answering coach Bob Latour's call for varsity tryouts. Latour, who had been a teacher and swimming coach at Bethlehem Central High School in New York, came to Bucknell in the spring of 1956 as a phys ed instructor, and soon after he was also tabbed to be the school's first varsity swim coach. It didn't take long for his new program to get rolling, and for exuberant crowds to routinely pack the Freas-Rooke grandstand.
Bucknell went 1-3 in that first varsity season, with the initial win coming against Delaware in the final dual of the season. That was followed by two 6-2 campaigns, and then the program joined the Middle Atlantic Conference in 1959-60, where it promptly won the league championship in year one. Bucknell spent 15 seasons in the MAC and finished first 11 times and second four times, and then the Bison moved to the East Coast Conference in 1974-75 and won championships in their first five seasons in that league.
Fueled by a host of Hall-of-Fame caliber swimmers in the 1960s, Bucknell swam at the NCAA College Division Championships, and it won the national championship in 1964 before finishing third a year later. The 1964 squad brought home from NCAAs 21 medals and two relay plaques, and that remains Bucknell's only team national championship.
Latour stepped down as head coach after the 1967-68 season to become Bucknell's director of athletics. He left with an 83-31 dual record and six MAC titles, and amazingly he is one of only five head coaches in the 64-year history of Bison men's swimming. Dick Russell succeeded Latour, kicking off a 26-year run as head coach. In 1994 Lynn Kachmarik became one of the first women ever to coach a Division I men's team. Jerry Foley served as head coach from 1998-2006 and led the Bison to a Patriot League title in 2003 – their first year in the sparkling new Kinney Natarorium – and Dan Schinnerer is now in his 15th season as head coach.
Over the course of this week, Schinnerer will be joined by many of the stars of the past who helped shape the history of the Bison men's swimming & diving program. Special thanks to Geisinger for sponsoring the series.
1950s & 1960s
We wrap up our look back through the history of the Bison men's swimming and diving program with a trip back to the team's origins in the '50s and '60s. As mentioned above, Bob Latour didn't need long to build a winning program. In less than four years, Bucknell went from not even having a swimming pool on campus to winning the 1960 Middle Atlantic Conference title at Freas-Rooke Pool by just three points over defending-champion Lehigh (in fact, the top five teams in that meet were separated by only nine points). Hall-of-Famers Bill Dearstyne and Bill Dorr were two of the stars of that squad, even as sophomores. They helped set the stage for a decade of the 1960s that saw Bucknell win six more MAC titles along with three runner-up finishes. The Bison swam to even greater acclaim in 1963-64, when they captured the very first NCAA College Division Championship at Grove City ... and by a wide margin. It was projected to be a close meet, but Bucknell's 83 points easily outdistanced runner-up East Carolina with 50. Hall-of-Famers Jerry Thimme (golds in 200 free, 1650 free and 400 free relay) and Jim Smigie (golds in 200 fly and 400 medley relay) were two of the catalysts as Bucknell submergered the rest of the 39-team field. The Bison finished third at the NCAA meet the following year, with Smigie repeating as 200 fly and 400 medley relay champion and Fred Woertman sweeping the two backstroke events while also leading off the winning medley relay. Dearstyne, Smigie and Thimmee are three of our distinguished guests on today's panel, along with Stu Berelson '59, Bob Buys '59 P'84, Bob Erdahl '60 and David Landes '69. Berelson and Buys were both members of the very first Bucknell team in 1956-67. Buys captained the 1958-59 team and won the 200 back in 14 of the 19 dual meets in which he competed. Erdahl was captain a year later, and he finished first or second in 16 of his 20 200 fly races. Dearstyne was a two-year captain who won six MAC individual goals medals. He swept the 100 and 200 back in three consecutive seasons, and he also won a pair of gold medals with the 400 medley relay. In 1960, Dearstyne won the 100 back at the Eastern Seaboard Championships. In addition to his national titles, Smigie was a seven-time MAC individual champion, including three straight in both the 100 and 200 fly. He also won the 200 IM as a senior and claimed three more gold medals on relays. Thimme was a five-time MAC individual champion, winning the 200 free three times and the 500 free twice. He was also a part of two champion relays. Landes was a two-year team captain at the end of the decade, when he won six MAC relay gold medals, including four in the 400 free relay. He was a College Division All-American as part of 400 and 800 free relay units in 1968.
1970s
The Bison men's swimming and diving team competed in 10 conference championship meets in the 1970s. They finished first in nine of them and second in the other. It's hard to be much more dominant than that. Dick Russell had just taken over for Bob Latour prior to the 1968-69 season, and he led Bucknell to the Middle Atlantic Conference title in his first season. In the 1970 MAC Championships, the Bison were edged out by Lehigh for first place. The following season, Bucknell toppled the Engineers in the dual meet and then beat them by 30 points at the MAC Championships to claim the first of what would become nine conference titles in a row. Bucknell posted a perfect 11-0 dual record in 1973-74 -- the only undefeated season in program history -- and then in 1974-75 the team moved to the East Coast Conference and promptly won five more championships in a row. The 1970s was filled with star power, as Hall-of-Famers Greg Olson '70, Bill Drake '72, Peter O'Keeffe '72, Bob Richards '74, Steve Winings '74, Roger Schwanhausser '75 and Geoff Miller '76 all competed in this decade. O'Keeffe and Winings were both NCAA Division I All-Americans in 1971, and then join Jim Harvey as the only Bison so honored. Four of those HOFers are panelists on today's discussion -- O'Keefe, Richards, Winings and Schwanhausser -- and they are joined by John Lyons '75 and Dan Richards '78. In addition to his All-America honor, O'Keeffe was a six-time MAC individual champion and four-time relay champion. He held eight school records at the time of his graduation. Bob Richards is considered the finest diver in Bucknell history. He swept the 1 and 3-meter events at the 1973 and 1974 MAC Championships, and his school records in both events in the six-dive format were never broken. Winings finished in eighth place in the 50 free at the 1971 NCAA Championships, the highest finish ever by a Bucknell swimmer. He won six MAC gold medals, including four straight in the 50 free to become the first swimmer in league history to win an event four years in a row. He also claimed seven relay golds, including four in a row in the 400 free relay. Lyons captained the 1974-75 team that won the ECC crown in its first season in the new league. He was a 10-time conference placewinner, with a best finish of third in the 200 fly at the 1972 MAC Championships. Schwanhausser was a four-time individual conference champion, with three coming in the 200 IM, and he was also part of 10 league-champion relay teams, including four straight in the 800 free relay. He graduated with school records in the 100 back and 200 IM. His son, Stephen '03, also swam for the Bison and set school records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, making them the only father-son combo in any sport at Bucknell to have held school records. Dan Richards captained the 1977-78 team that stretched the streak to eight league titles in a row. He won the 1,000 free five times in dual meet competition and scored at the ECC Championships all four years, highlighted by a silver medal in the 1,650 free in 1978. He broke the school records in the 1,000 and 1,650 in that race.
1980s
Dick Russell boasted strong teams throughout the 1980s, and the headliner was the 1986-87 squad that ended a seven-year championship drought by winning the East Coast Conference title in Easton, Pa. The star of that show was Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey, who many consider to be the top swimmer in Bucknell history. At the 1987 ECCs, Harvey won the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free and he also anchored three winning relays to lead the Bison to the team title. Harvey, who won 11 ECC individual gold medals and eight relays in his brilliant career, also twice qualified for the NCAA Championships and was an honorable mention All-American in 1988. The program also produced an Olympian in the '80s. David Morley, who won six ECC gold medals in the backstroke events, swam for his native Bahamas in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In addition to the 1987 league title, the Bison also earned runner-up honors six times in the decade. Harvey and Morely are two of the alumni back with us for this edition, along with Pete Edelman '85, John Garofolo '90 and Rick Hutchinson '91. Edelman captained the 1984-85 team and was part of a gold medal-winning 800 free relay unit at the ECC Championships that year. Even 32 years after his graduation, Harvey still ranks among Bucknell's top 10 performers in six individual events, and his 100 free record is still on the board. Garofolo was a team captain in 1989-90 and graduated with three ECC gold medals, in the 100 fly in 1990 and the 400 medley relay in 1988 and 1990. He was also the ECC Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior. Hutchinson captained the 1990-91 team and won the Dearstyne-Dorr Award as team MVP that year.
1990s
The 1990s was a decade of change for the Bison men's squad. In 1990-91, the team moved into the newly formed Patriot League and promptly finished third in the inaugural Patriot League Championships. Legendary head coach Dick Russell retired after the 1993-94 season, and Lynn Kachmark took over for four seasons before handing the reins to former Army assistant coach Jerry Foley. In Kachmarik's first season in charge in 1994-95, the Bison finished a perfect 9-0 in duals, and they were 31-9 in her four seasons with four solid third-place finishes at the conference meet. One of the top swimmers in school history competed during the '90s in Hall-of-Famer Jay Gross '93, who won eight career conference titles, included three each in the 50 free and 100 fly. He was the Patriot League Co-Swimmer of the Meet in both 1992 and 1993. Gross still ranks No. 2 all-time in the 100 free, trailing only fellow Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey, whose record of 44.37 has stood since 1988. Gross is the only Bison ever to come with a half-second of Harvey's record. Gross is one of the guests on today's chat, along with Don Steenson '92, Steve Droste '93, Rick Steenson '95, Scott Woodworth '98 and Alex Johnson '99. Don Steenson graduated with six school records, and 28 years later he is still eighth all-time in the 100 back. He will forever hold the Freas-Rooke Pool record in the 100 back. He was a four-time Patriot League individual champion, winning twice each in the 100 and 200 back, and he also captured three gold medals with relays. Droste won three individual and three relay gold medals at the PL Championships, all coming in 1993 when he was named Co-Swimmer of the Meet with his teammate Gross. Rick Steenson won two individual titles and four relay titles at the PL Championships, and he still ranks seventh all-time at Bucknell in the 200 fly. Woodworth won league titles in the 100 back in 1997 and the 200 back in 1998, and he was the 1997 PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, and he was named Third Team Academic All-American in 1998. Johnson captured five total PL gold medals, three individual and two with relays, and was a four-time All-PL honoree. He was also the PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1999.
2010s
Navy won every Patriot League Men's Swimming and Diving Championship during the 2010s, but the Bison were strong contenders throughout the decade. Bucknell finished between second and fourth in the team standings each year, and after the 2010 meet Dan Schinnerer was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for the second time. Bucknell swimmers have never been faster. In fact, 11 of the 14 individual school records and all five relay marks were broken during the 2010s, often multiple times. One of the longest-standing records in team history went down at the 2019 PL Championships at Kinney Natatorium, when Charlie McFarland eclipsed Hall-of-Famer Jim Harvey's 31-year-old record in the 50-yard freestyle. Harvey swam a 20.17 at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis in 1988, and that held up until McFarland went 20.10 in 2019. Other notable record-setters include Louis Behnen, who broke the 200 and 500 free records on back-to-back days at the 2016 PL Championships at Navy; two-time PL Swimmer of the Meet Chris Devlin, who set records in both backstroke and both IM events (he now ranks No. 2 behind Matt McGoey in the 200 IM); Chadd Cummings, who lowered the team marks in both breaststroke events at the 2019 PL meet; and Mike Nicholson, who graduated with records in the 200 breast and 100 and 200 butterfly and still holds both fly marks. Nicholson '14, Devlin '18 and McFarland '19 are among the six panelists on our first chat of the week, joining Eric Sokolosky '12, Billy Krause '13 and Christian Treat '13. Sokolosky was a four-time All-Patriot League honoree who won the PL title in the 50 free in 2010 and the ECAC gold medal in teh 100 free in 2010 and 2012. Krause was also a four-time All-PL honoree who still ranks in the top 10 in team history in the 200 fly, 500 free and 400 IM. Treat was not only a top-notch swimmer for the Bison, but he was the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year three times. Treat formerly held school records in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM, and he now ranks second, third and fourth respectively. He helped the Bison 800 free relay team to an ECAC title in 2011. In addition to his school records, Nicholson was a three-time conference champion, capturing the 400 IM in 2011 and 2014 and the 200 IM in 2014. He also won ECAC golds in the 200 breast and 400 IM in 2014. Devlin captured six career Patriot League gold medals, including three in a row in the 200 back. He also won the 400 IM twice and the 100 back once. In addition to his two PL Swimmer of the Meet honors, Devlin was the league's Rookie of the Meet in 2015 and he competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. In addition to breaking Harvey's 31-year-old record in the 50 free, McFarland also helped set school records in the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 and 400 free relays (all but the 400 free relay still stand). He is also Bucknell's fourth-fastest performer in the 100 breast and ninth-fastest in the 100 free.
2000s
There was a whole lot going on during the decade of the 2000s for the Bison men's swimming and diving team. First and foremost, the 2002-03 academic year will go down as one of the most memorable in program history. The year started with the opening of the beautiful new Kinney Natatorium. The first official meet was the Bucknell Sprint Invitational in early November, and then in February the Bison not only hosted the Patriot League Championships in Kinney for the first time, the men's and women's teams both captured championships. The men's squad had never before finished higher than third since the Patriot League debuted in 1990-91, but on this magical weekend coach Jerry Foley's squad outswam runner-up and defending champion Navy by 68.5 points. Freshman Mark Kretzer clinched the victory with a win in the 200 butterfly in the final individual event of the meet. The Bison finished second at the conference meet the following year, and then after Dan Schinnerer was introduced as head coach prior to the 2006-07 season, Bucknell finished third-second-second in his first three seasons to close out the decade. Two school swimming records set in the 2000s are still in the books today, and both are held by distance specialist Luke Trafton. He owns the Bucknell marks in the 1,000 free and 1,650 free (both set in the same race at the 2009 PL Championships at Kinney Natatorium. Trafton also broke the 500 free record at the same meet, but he is now the second-fastest performer in that event after Louis Behnen bettered his time in 2016. One of Bucknell's all-time best divers also competed in the 2000s in Adam Freeman, who still owns the school record on the one-meter board for six optionals, and on the one and three-meter boards for 11 dives. Freeman '06, Kretzer '06 and Trafton '10 are two of the alumni joining us on today's chat, along with Stephen Schwanhausser '03, Todd Bauer '06 and Mark Kawczenski '09. Schwanhausser graduated with school records in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. His father, Roger Schwanhausser '75, is in the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame, and they are the only father-son combination in Bucknell history in any sports to have held school records. Bauer was a four-time All-Patriot League honoree and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as a senior. In addition to his school diving records, Freeman was the Patriot League and ECAC champion in the one-meter competitions in 2002. He was named Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year twice and was also a two-time Academic All-District choice. In addition to his meet-clinching win in the 200 fly in 2003, Kretzer also captured a PL gold medal in the 100 back the following year. He was a four-time All-Patriot League selection and the league's top point-scorer in the Class of 2006, and he is now in his fifth season as head coach at Saint Peter's. Kawczenski was a three-time Patriot League individual champion, claiming the 100 back twice and the 50 free once, and he was also part of three PL champion relays. A four-time All-Patriot Leaguer and the Christy Mathewson Award winner as the top athlete in his class, Kawczenski graduated with the school record in the 100 back, and today he ranks third all-time in that event and the 50 free. The record-setting Trafton won two Patriot League gold medals in the mile and another in the 500 free. He was the 2007 Patriot League Rookie of the Meet, and he earned four All-PL citations.
Players Mentioned
Breast/IM
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Free/Breast/IM
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Free/Breast/Back
/ Men's Swimming and Diving2026 Bucky's
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