The Bison swimming & diving teams competed over the weekend in Annapolis, Md. after receiving an invitation from Navy. The competition was held at Lejeune Hall and attended by American, Bucknell, Lafayette, Navy, Shippensburg and UMBC. Competition was no less intense despite scores not being kept.

The women’s team’s individual champion award for the day went to Esme Hunter ’24 (200 IM). The Bison went 1-2-3 in the 200-freestyle relay with Hunter anchoring the triumphant squad; Stephanie Walsh ’24, Kayla Lichtner ’24 and Caroline McGann ’24 rounded out a solid team. 

Liam Pitt ’22 (200 butterfly), John Gehrig ’24 (100 backstroke), Nick Haddad ’22 (200 backstroke) and Sean Quinn ’22 (400 IM) outraced the field for the men. In addition, Pitt and Quinn teamed with Sam Miller ’22 and Sam Sweeney ’22 for a first-place showing in the 200-freestyle relay. 

On the women’s side, Sabrina Vumbacco ’23 (4th, 2:02.42) and Maddie Hartigan ’22 (7th, 2:02.97) each clocked a school top-10 time in the 200-butterfly.  On the men’s side, Pitt posted Bucknell’s seventh-best time in the 200-butterfly (1:50.99) while Nick Pirone ’23 improved his score in the 3-meter dive to 253.40, solid for 10th in the school annals.

An exceedingly strong Hartigan, a five-time Patriot League medalist in freestyle races, took second in her first-ever collegiate appearance in the 200 IM.

In the end, the Bison combined to log four program top-10 marks and score 24 top-three finishes. 

Hartigan spoke on the team’s success this weekend, explaining that “our meet this weekend went super well and was a lot of fun. We were able to compete at the Naval Academy which is where our Championship meets will be held at.”

“It was great to practice our racing in this pool to help prepare us for our Championships which are in about two weeks,” she continued. “Our team has worked so hard this year and I am really excited to see everyone perform and cheer them on at our Championship meets.”

This was the final match-up before the Patriot League Championships from February 16-19, which will also be held at Lejeune Hall.  Go Bison!