The Bucknell men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up competition at the two-day Princeton Open on Saturday. There were two sessions Saturday and a total of 30 events were contested. The highlight of the day came when the Bison’s Daniel Fletcher (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) won the 100-yard backstroke, one of only four total individual top-three finishes for Bucknell.
Fletcher, who also took fourth in the 200 back and 200 free, swam the 100 back in 52.21 seconds and was one of four Bison in the top nine in the final standings.
Also on the men’s side, Jonathan Podniesinski (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) and Nathaniel Frye (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area) posted third-place showings in the 400 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, respectively. Podniesinski swam the 400 IM in 4:10.62, with teammates Bill Krause (Huntington Bay, N.Y./St. Anthony’s) in fifth, Luke Trafton (Bath, Maine/Morse) in seventh and Gonzalo DeLeon (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) in 10th. Frye beat out teammate Christian Treat (Evergreen, Colo./Clear Creek) by less than half a second in the 100 breast as that duo took third and fourth.
In addition to his seventh-place finish in the 400 IM, Trafton took fourth in the 1,650 free and ninth in the 200 butterfly. Overall, Bucknell had 30 individual top-10 finishes on the men’s side in a meet that included more than 20 swimmers in most races.
On the women’s side, the versatile Abigail Atkinson (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) was Bucknell’s top individual finisher, taking third in the 200 back, one spot ahead of Lauren Russell (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell). Russell also placed fourth in the 400 IM and seventh in the 100 back. Atkinson was sixth in the 100 back and ninth in the 200 free.
Molly Goebel (100 free) and Courtney Warren (58.87) also had fourth-place finishes for the Bison.
In diving, David Magaro (Enola, Pa./East Pennsboro Area) took third off both boards for the men, falling .05 shy of his season best off the three-meter board. Allison FitzPatrick (Berwyn, Pa./Episcopal Academy) paced the women’s divers, placing third off the one-meter and taking 11th in three-meter competition.
Both Bucknell squads will now be idle until the Bison Open Dec. 4-6 at Kinney Natatorium.
