Bucknell Hosts UMBC in Non-Scoring Exhibition

LEWISBURG, Pennsylvania, October 6. LAST night Bucknell hosted UMBC in a non-scoring exhibition contest. Bucknell had a strong outing with UMBC also putting up some strong times as well.

Bucknell Press Release
The Bucknell men’s swimming and diving team earned six wins in Saturday’s non-scored season-opener against UMBC at Kinney Natatorium, and senior Mike Nicholson accounted for half of them.

Nicholson captured all three butterfly events, and teammate Erik Heinemann took second in all three. Nicholson won the 200-yard fly in 1:51.39. Heinemann finished in 1:54.69, and no other swimmer touched in under 1:59.

Nicholson nosed out Heinemann by three-tenths of a second in the 100 fly, and then that duo went 1-2 for a third time in the special 50 fly.

Brian Phillips, Ben Seketa and Steve Grune accounted for Bucknell’s other three wins.

Phillips earned the team’s first victory of the afternoon in the 1,000 freestyle, posting a time of 9:55.45. He was the only sub-10-minute finisher in the field.

Seketa captured the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.15 and later was runner-up in the 100 breast. Grune won the 50 free in 21.11.

Sophomore Emma Levendoski and freshman Rachel McGoff won three races each and the Bucknell women’s swimming and diving team captured 12 events in its non-scored season-opener against UMBC on Saturday at Kinney Natatorium.

Levandoski won three backstroke events, and McGoff took three sprint freestyle events in her collegiate debut. Distance freestyler Kelly Pontecorvo was also a double-winner, and Amber McDonnell, Kristen Purdy, Laureana Zrada and Tori Molchany also produced first-place finishes.

Levandoski’s first win of the day came in the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 2:04.85, which was five seconds ahead of runner up Jackie Shroyer of Bucknell. Levandoski was the only swimmer under one minute in the 100 back (57.67), and she finished off the day with a close win in the 50 back in 27.53.

McGoff’s first career victory came in the 200 free in a time of 1:56.93. She edged out teammate Emily Wright by just two-tenths of a second in the 100 free, and her time of 24.87 in the 50 free was .08 faster than UMBC’s Kristie Langford.

The first individual event of the day resulted in an 18-second win for Pontecorvo in the 1,000 free. She also dominated the 500 free, winning in 5:09.64, which was more than six seconds ahead of runner-up Langford.

The freshman McDonnell scored her first career win in the 200 butterfly (2:07.84). Purdy was the runner-up in that event, and she later won the 100 fly in 59.17.

Zrada made it five wins for the first-year class when she captured a second heat of the 200 free in 1:59.70.

Molchany gave Bucknell a win on the diving boards, capturing the 1-meter event with a total of 232.95. Tara Boyle was runner-up on both boards.

UMBC Press Release
UMBC senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) started his final season with a bang by winning all three of the individual medley events while classmate Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) swept the backstroke events and the UMBC swimming and diving teams won 25 of 44 events in an exhibition meet against Bucknell, Saturday afternoon at Kinney Natatorium.

For the women, freshmen Emily Escobedo (New Rochelle, N.Y./Maria Regina) and Kayla Lilly (Natick, Mass./Medfield) both burst onto the scene at Bucknell, each winning three events. Escobedo swept the 50 (31.32), 100 (1:07.10), and 200-yd. breaststroke (2:19.92) events while Lilly took the top spot in the 100 (1:03.11), 200 (2:12.86), and 400-yd. IM events (4:38.95).

In addition, the Retrievers swept the four relay competitions against the Bison.

A two-time America East Most Outstanding Male Swimmer honoree and an NCAA Championships qualifier, Hussein won the 100-yd. (51.58), 200-yd. (1:52.80), and 400-yd. IM events (4:04.30) against the Bison to start the season.

Rohtla equaled his classmate’s feat by sweeping the backstroke events in Pennsylvania. The senior opened with a win in the 200-yd. event (1:54.36) and then went on to take top honors in the 100-yd. (52.57) and 50-yd races (25.05) as well.

On the diving boards, senior Tim Perkins (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) took the top spot in both events, winning the 1-meter competition with a score of 244.13 and then earned the 3-meter win with 268.95 points.

Sophomore Leo Endres (Bamberg, Germany/Kaiser Heinrich Gymnasium) also picked up multiple wins by taking the top spot in the 50-yd. (27.01) and 100-yd. breaststroke (59.10) events.

Freshmen Andrew McKissick (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph’s) and Gregor Sporlein (Bamberg, Germany/Clavius-Gymnasium) earned wins in their first collegiate races, while junior Lauri Kaei (Harjumaa, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) won the 200 free (1:42.31).

Also for the women, senior Talor Tadena (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista) started her year by winning the 50 fly (26.91) and sophomore Corinna Darelius (Rye, N.Y./Rye) won the 3-meter diving competition.

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