The Bucknell women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams welcomed the US Military Academy to Kinney Natatorium on Saturday for a co-ed dual meet. The Patriot League foes split the wins, with Bucknell’s women triumphing 180-120 and Army’s men winning 167-133.
Women’s Meet
The Bucknell women won 11 of 16 events against the Black Knights, including doubles from Emma Levendoski, Diana Hanson and Julianna Foss. The Bison opened the meet with a 1:47.37 victory in the 200 medley relay from Levendoski (26.62), Hanson (30.33), Foss (25.97), and Maddi Marcheskie (24.45). Army’s Kelly Hamilton, Collin Kessinger, Molly Mucciarone, and Rachel Kim went 1:48.99 for second.
Levendoski finished first in the backstroke races, winning the 100 by 2 seconds with 56.27 and the 200 by 4.7 with 2:01.08. Army’s Hamilton was the fastest Black Knight in each race. Foss added points to Bucknell’s tally with double butterfly wins. After a 2:08.27 in the 200, coming in ahead of Army’s Teresa Groton (2:09.77), Foss went 57.81 and just out-touched Mucciarone (58.03). Mucciarone did her own out-touching in the 50 free, which she won in 24.40 ahead of Bucknell’s Rachel McGoff (24.69) and Lauren Perry (24.89).
Both breaststrokes went to the Bison’s Hanson. She clocked a 1:06.58 in the 100 in front of teammate Ashley Henderson (1:08.05) and Jessica Burkett of Army (1:08.69). Later, Hanson swam a 2:23.79 in the 200, winning with a comfortable margin ahead of Army’s Kessinger (2:25.60) and Gretchen Roesel (2:26.06).
Other individual event winners for the Bison were Perry (100 free), Dani Potis (1000 free), Tara Boyle (1-meter diving), and Katie Hetherington (3-meter diving).
Army’s Bridget Ritter had the best outing of the afternoon, however, posting the top times in three events, and with significant winning margins. Her 200 free time of 1:53.36 was 2 seconds ahead of second-place Perry’s. Ritter went 5:01.75 in the 500 free, while the next-fastest competitor, Bucknell’s Potis, was nearly 9 seconds back. In the 200 IM, Ritter won a closer contest; she came to the wall in 2:09.40, a second in front of Henderson from Bucknell.
Final Scores
Bucknell University 180 – 120 U.S. Military Academy
Men’s Meet
Bucknell won 9 of 16 events but the Black Knights proved to have more depth. Army began with the top two spots in the 200 medley relay, led by Evin Rude (23.75), Colin Kanzari (26.01), Austin Kong (22.27), and Christopher Szekely (20.57) in 1:32.60. Teammates Pierre Archambeau, Joseph Daniels, Michael Dustin and Adam Sjoholm came in second, just .35 in front of Bucknell’s Chris Devlin, Ben Seketa, Triston Loux, and Steven Grune (1:33.95).
The Bison’s Louis Behnen won three races over the course of the afternoon, beginning with the 1000 free. He touched in 9:33.92 and was 3.5 seconds ahead of Army’s Casey Woudenberg. Behnen got the edge on Army’s Rude in the 500 free, winning 4:35.94 to 4:37.25. He followed those victories up with a narrow win in the 200 IM, holding off the Black Knights’ Will Viana, 1:53.59 to 1:53.89.
Devlin put two in the win column for the Bison, prevailing in both backstrokes. He began with a .04-second victory over Army’s Viana in the 100 back, winning in 50.78. The two battled each other again in the 200 back, although this time he had a more substantial lead and won 1:50.01 to 1:50.89. Devlin also placed third in the 200 IM.
Seketa gave Bucknell 9 points in each of the breaststroke events. He won the 100 breast going 57.90, in front of Army’s Kanzari (58.40) and Samuel Mo (58.91). In the 200, Seketa had a dramatic finish that propelled him past Mo. He touched in 2:07.14. Mo went 2:07.32 and Kanzari was 2:07.44 for third.
Bucknell’s divers took top honors, with Jon Jones winning the 1-meter and Tyler Wenzel, the 3-meter boards.
Army’s Szekely gave the Black Knights two important wins. He edged Bucknell’s Grune in the 50 free, 21.13 to 21.19, then led a 1-2-3-4 Army sweep in the 100 free with 46.24.
Kong was part of another big moment for the Black Knights when he was first to the wall in a 1-2-3 Army sweep in the 100 fly in 50.13, ahead of teammates Mo (50.61) and Dustin (50.96). Teammate Zach Blandenbeker won the 200 fly in 1:53.40, followed by teammate Jason Rodriguez (1:54.18) and Bucknell’s Loux (1:55.47). Rude, who had finished second in the 500 free, took the 200 free in 1:42.18.
The final 400 free relay went to Army. Szekely (46.78), Sjoholm (47.18), Sowell, (46.71), and Rude (46.00) came to the wall in 3:06.67. Bucknell’s Grune, Jack Robinson, Erik Heinemann, and Behnen were second with 3:09.03.
Final Scores
U.S. Military Academy 167 – 133 Bucknell University
