Bucknell University
Army
Women's Swimming & Diving Falls in Close Contest with Army 157-143
1/10/2026 10:01:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
WEST POINT, N.Y. — The Bucknell women's swimming & diving team closed the gap to five points after outscoring the Black Knights 12-7 in the 400-yard individual medley, but ultimately fell in the final event of the afternoon as Army secured the win with a top finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. In the loss, the Bison notched three Top-10 records and won six of the events.
Clara Renner and Jennifer Bolden each won two events apiece. Renner won the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle and Bolden took the 100 and 200-yard freestyle events.
Sofia Burns won the 100-yard backstroke with a 56.21 time and Kelly Byrne took the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:23.01.
Byrne cracked the Bison's top-10 list in the 1,000-yard freestyle event (10:16.59), where she now holds the tenth place slot. Bolden improved her 200-yard freestyle mark (1:49.31), which moved her from 8th to 6th in the record book. Tori Castro broke into the top-10 in the 100-yard butterfly (55.68), where she now holds 9th.
Bucknell captured three or more of the top-five times in more than half of the swimming events including the 100-yard breaststroke where the Bison finished 2-3-4-5.
Army opened the meet with a 27-11 lead after outsourcing the Bison in the diving events. Despite Renner and Byrne placing second and third in the 1,000 yard freestyle event, the Black Knights extended their lead with 12 points to take a 39-18 advantage heading into the 200-yard medley relay. Two of Bucknell's medley squads earned points as they placed second (four points) and third (two points) in the event, but Army's team took first place and maintained its lead.
Bucknell took the next two events and closed the gap to just six points. The Bison closed the gap by earning 14 points in the 200-yard freestyle event as Bolden took first, Kyla Kelly grabbed third and Virginia Hastings finished fourth and followed that up with Sofia Burns and Alivia Wainwright finishing 1-2 in the 100-yard backstroke and Talia Bugel finishing fourth.
Army had the first place winner of the 100-yard breaststroke, however Hanna Bingley placed second (1:03.35), Sam Benzija placed third (1:05.43), Sydnee Jee placed fourth (1:05.61) and Anne Kennedy Deveaux placed fifth (1:05:87) to have the Bison actually outscore the event-winning Black Knights 10-9.
Bucknell then tied the meet 75-75 scoreline after Renner claimed first in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.51) and Sydney Dettmann took third (2:01.98) to earn 12 points.
The Black Knights came out swinging in the 50-yard freestyle taking 15 points to Bucknell's four, extending their lead to 11 as Castro was the lone Bison to earn points in the event. The Bison immediately tied the meet for the second time as they outscored the Black Knights 15-4 in the 100-yard freestyle. Bolden won the event (51.33) followed by Castro who took second (51.78) and Kelly who placed fourth (51.99).
Army outscored Bucknell in the next event, the 200-yard backstroke by two-points extending its lead to 104-103. In the event, Wainwright finished second (2:01.99), Bugle finished third (2:05.24) and Burns finished fourth (2:05.28). The next event went the exact same way as Bucknell finished second, third and fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke and Army took first and fifth to outscore the Bison 10-9 in the event and take a two point lead with five events remaining.
Renner and Dettman helped lead the Bison to its first lead over the Black Knights (124-121) with a 12 point event as Renner earned a first place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (4:52.46) and Dettman finished third (4:57.35).
Army then pulled away with a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard butterfly earning it 16 points. Castro and Benzija finished fourth and fifth respectively and earned three points for the Bison, but Army used that gap to extend its lead to 10 with just two events remaining.
Byrne won the 400-yard individual medley (4:23.01) and Hastings finished third (4:26.55) which closed the score gap back to five points and forced the meet to come down to the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay where Army took first place and therefore took the meet with a 157-143 final score.
Bucknell women's swimming & diving will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. The Bison will face Loyola in Baltimore for its Patriot League contest.
Players Mentioned
