Lehigh
The Lehigh men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs opened up competition at the 2016 Patriot League Championships at Navy on Wednesday by breaking a pair of program records in the men’s and women’s 800 freestyle relays.
Sophomore Julianne Koch, senior Carolyn Koch, senior Courtney Patterson and freshman Courtney Ferreira combined on the 800 freestyle relay record time of 7:18.53, breaking the previous benchmark that was set at last year’s league championships. J. Koch, C. Koch and Patterson were also a member of the previous record holding quartet.
Not to be outdone, the men’s 800 free relay team followed that up with a record of their own in 6:38.28. Junior Jacob Moyar, sophomore Zach Tieke, senior Jake Hassel and junior Justin White bested the previous record from last season’s championships by over three seconds. Navy took the top spot in both the men’s and women’s event, setting a new league record on the men’s side by 4.48 seconds.
The first race of the night was the women’s 200 medley relay team, featuring freshman Kate Bergin, senior Melissa Feeney, junior Kelly Carroll and junior Kaitlyn Ruffing, who bested their seed time by well over three seconds, with an eight place finish of 1:46.08.
The men followed that up with their own 200 yard medley relay where sophomore Jimmy Davey, Hassel, Tieke and junior Jamal Willis combined for a sixth place time of 1:32.11.
Earlier in the day on the boards, freshman Croldy Veliz competed for the Mountain Hawks in the prelims of the men’s three meter diving, finishing 17th overall with a new personal record score of 170.95. Senior Sean Daugherty also competed in the prelims, finishing 19th overall (127.60).
The Brown and White find themselves in a tie for fourth place in the women’s draw with 56 points at the end of day one. The men sit in sixth place, also with 56 points. Action will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. and will continue at 6 p.m. with the finals of the 500 free, 20 IM, 50 free and 400 medley relays.
