By Andrew Lichtenauer

Writer

Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had impressive showings in the pool in the Frank Elm Rutgers Invitational last weekend in Piscataway, N.J., posting third place and second place finishes, respectively.

Jonathan Podniesinski ’12, Thomas Brown ’12, Eric Sokolosky ’12 and the 400-yard freestyle relay team posted wins on the last day of the meet. The men finished third overall behind La Salle and Delaware with 1,421 points. La Salle, the winner of the invitational, had 1,709.5 points.

“We were able to stay motivated and perform well on Sunday by coming together as a team and supporting each other,” Sokolosky said. “Everyone was tired, but having the entire team cheer each other on really made the difference.”

Mike Nicholson ’14 had an impressive showing at the three-day event. On Friday he won the 200 individual medley in 1:52.19. The next day, he won the 400 individual medley in 3:59.26, setting a record for the invitational.

Nicholson now has 11 first-place finishes across six events this year. He was named Bison Athlete of the Week for his performance.

The Bison women finished second behind Pittsburgh. The Panthers finished with 1,576.5 points, significantly ahead of the Orange and Blue’s 1157.5.

Kelly Pontecorvo ’14, Emily Wright ’14 and the 400 free relay team all posted wins on Sunday. On the other two days of competition, only Molly Goebel ’11 took a first place finish.

Pontecorvo, won the 1,650 freestyle race.

“I feel my positive performance stemmed not only from the training we have been doing but also from the competition we had at hand,” Pontecorvo said. “Racing the strong swimmers around me left me wanting to race them in finals and motivated me to swim fast in each of my races. I also wanted to contribute to the great success everyone else on the team was having.”

The Bison men and women return to the pool on Dec. 4 at 1 p.m., hosting La Salle at Kinney Natatorium.