Though the women’s swimming and diving team still has time left in its long winter season, swimmer Emma Levendoski ’16 has already established herself during her third season on the team. It is evident that after her strong start to the year, she will once again be a valuable member of the squad.

As a four-time Patriot League Champion, Levendoski is no stranger to success on the collegiate level. In her first two years of competition, she dominated the backstroke, and was selected to the First Team All-Patriot League both times. As a first-year swimmer, she became the first Bison to be awarded the title of Patriot League Rookie of the Meet. When it came time for the Patriot League Championships, she became the first rookie from the Orange and Blue to win multiple gold medals since 1995, winning both the 100 and 200 backstroke.

Throughout the course of last season, Levendoski once again asserted her dominance in the backstroke. Throughout the season, she earned the Patriot League Swimmer of the Week title four times, and also won both backstroke events eight times. She swept the backstroke events at the Patriot League Championships this past year as well, becoming the first person to sweep the events in back-to-back years since 1997-98. The performance led her to a fourth-place finish in the 200 back and seventh in the 100 back in the ECAC Championships last year.

Going into the 2014-15 season, Levendoski has once again been stepping up for the Bison. She already held school records for both backstroke events, leaving a clear mark on the program’s history. The junior has shown herself to be more than up to the challenge in the first months of the season.

Levendoski had her latest successes in the pool in the most recent meet for the Bison, the Bucknell Invitational, hosted from Nov. 21-23. In the meet, the swimmer once again swept both backstroke events, making it the fourth out of five meets in which she has won both events this year.

“Because we were all rested, everyone was in such high spirits and the pool deck was just such a great environment to be in,” Levendoski said. 

She also recorded a 53.53 in the finals of the 100 back, as well as a 1:54.48 in the prelims of the 200 back, two times which improved her previously held school records.

Levendoski’s other finishes in the meet are also notably successful. She was part of four relays over the weekend, two of which finished in the top-three. She also scored in the 50 free, placing 18th overall.

Overall, Levendoski’s performance on the weekend once again earned her school and league honors. Named both Bison Athlete of the Week and Patriot League Female Swimmer of the Week, she increased her school and league honors to two and five respectively. The Bison will continue their season with a dual meet on Dec. 6 against Colgate at home at 1 p.m. 

“I’m really just looking forward to championships and am excited to see what we can do as a team,” Levendoski said.