The 11-team Bucknell Invitational kicked off this morning with the first session of prelims. Competition began with the 500 free and was followed by the 200 IM and 50 free.
Georgetown freshman Christine Ryan took over five seconds off of her seed for the top spot in the women’s 500, swimming a 4:56.22 to hold off Bucknell freshman Dani Potis. She finished in 4:56.47, but split over a full second faster than Ryan in the final 50. Seniors Megan Zarriello (Fordham), Brittany Lazear (Delaware), and Lauren Perry (Bucknell) joined the fast frosh as the only swimmers to break the 5-minute mark. This should be a fun race to watch at finals this evening.
Steve Sholdra dropped over nine seconds from his seed time to earn top honors in the men’s 500. The Fordham junior finished in 4:29.50, out-touching Yale freshman Kei Hyogo (4:29.92). Yale junior Brian Hogan was not far behind, finishing in 4:30.65.
The Bucknell women had a strong showing in the 200 IM, posting the top three times of the morning. Diana Hanson, a sophomore, finished in 2:03.42, followed by junior Ashley Henderson (2:04.36) and sophomore Amber McDonnell (2:04.95).
Yale senior Alwin Firmansyah was first to the wall in the men’s 200 IM in 1:51.42, just ahead of the 1:51.73 posted by La Salle freshman Fabian Bergman. The top 8 in this event is made up of strictly Yale and La Salle swimmers.
In the women’s splash-and-dash event, the 50 free, Binghampton senior Caitlin Kelly swam a 23.51, squeaking past Georgetown freshman Bailey Page (23.59). The top nine finishers in this event broke 24 seconds.
The men’s 50 free went to Binghampton again, as junior Brian McKenna touched at 20.74. He was followed by Bucknell junior Steven Grune (20.91) and Fordham sophomore Joseph Mercurio (20.95). These three were the only swimmers able to break 21 seconds in the event.
Meet results can be found on MeetMobile under “Bucknell Invitational”
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Finals are slated to begin at 6:00pm ET